Crumbs
by The Humbug
Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my ‘Who’s Writing This Crap?’ storyline. It is a sequel to ‘A Cookie For Ecclesiastes’ and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs.
1. Chapter 1

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / One

Some folks smell the scent of burnt cheese and think that it is a rancid, ruined smell. Others envision the end result of a delicious meal, albeit slightly over done. Some experience the Rapture and go looking for nachos. Time Centre was bustling with the comings and goings of thousands of naked mole rats; all were active, all were focused and each and every one was busy at monitoring the chronometric flow.

Rufus 2704 accidentally reached for a nacho without observing the proper ritual and one of his fellows noticed the indiscretion.

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting something?"

Abashed, the buff but diminutive creature blushed a deep crimson and genuflected without daring to even lick the cheese from his paw. He dropped to his knees like the rest of his immediate cohorts and they shared in the 'Blessing Of The Bountiful Repast' using the immortal words of the Great And Powerful Ron.

"Brethren…"

"Grande Size It!"

"… Booyah."

Activity resumed for the group as they returned to their work and commenced their meal; the future society of the time manipulating naked mole rats valued productivity and cheese equally and all other activities were intermixed with liberal portions of both.

Rufus 2704 felt adequately chastised and vowed to perform extra service in the birthing wards; there were countless others of their species that did not share the genetically enhanced traits of his fellows. There were only 3000 of his kind to keep the past, present and future sacrosanct, and it was up to the rest to perpetuate the race for their eventual benefit to mankind. Otherwise, how could his species fulfill the commitment to protect humans, even if in secret?

On his console, one tiny green light among thousands blinked once. Always observant, he noted this and performed a quick log entry into his journal.

"What was that?" Another Rufus was glancing over his shoulder.

"That? That was a redundant time track collapsing. It's… unfortunate… but we must occasionally reconfigure force a compromised timeline, and the repercussions include the severing of the subsequent chain of events."

"What happens to the people?"

"Technically nothing, because they never existed. Without a past, there can be no future. It's never been officially documented what the severing and dissolution of a timeline is like, but I expect that everything fades away… eventually to be superceded by the new chain of events."

"Eventually?"

"Well…" Rufus 2704 handed his coworker a plate of nachos. "Time is relative."

The green light blinked again.

"Oh, was that another one?"

Rufus 2704 did not reply. He stared at the light, his breathe tight in his chest and he almost felt as if his heart were being forced to pause in its live giving beat. The light blinked a third time, then a fourth.

"Hey, wait, that's the same…"

"… the same timeline."

The time-quake hit the Centre and every thing and every one not bolted down was thrown down while the little green light stayed lit and all Hell started to break lose. Those systems that experienced electrical surges began to short out and a few of the sparking pieces of equipment threatened to start a fire.

When the subsidence finally abated, pink bodies slowly lifted themselves and began to urgently check the current readings on their monitors, yelling commends and accepting them with the lightning speed of the possessed. Fires were extinguished before they truly begun and essential systems were quickly rerouted or shut down.

"People! Your attention please!" Rufus 2704 used one arm to help his fallen colleague up onto his feet while raising the other arm up to gain their attention. All activity stopped and hundreds of pairs of tiny black eyes looked to their fellow with trusting anticipation. Rufus 2704 had to yell over the din of voices and disrupted equipment. "Someone get in contact with the Healers, as I'm sure that we have wounded in the complex! Next, we need to get Rufus 3000 in here!"

"But… what happened?" One of his wounded fellows limped over and examined the board of lights, severely damaged by the quake. Rufus 2740 had the answer but couldn't bring himself to say the word. He looked back to the green light, shining like a gangrenous star. When he could speak, he clearly uttered the name given to the cause of this catastrophe, stunning all who first heard it, and the word was repeated throughout the enormous chamber of Time Centre, for none of them wanted to believe it.

"Foldback..."

88888888

The exterior of the house was dark, as were most of the houses at this hour of the night. It was late by the standards of most residents, even for a Friday. All was not still, however; stealthy movement could have been detected through the curtains if an outside observer were to have been present, as would brief flashes of light reflecting from several of the surfaces in the downstairs living room. If one were close enough to one of the darkened windows, one might hear the occasional scream.

Such was movie night in the Possible home.

"Ewww! He's dead!"

"But he's moving!"

"This is gross!"

Kim Possible sat at one end of the sofa in her old white T-shirt with a pink heart on her chest and a baggy pair of running shorts and grinned at the frightened antics of her two children. The teenaged girls sat together in the center of the sofa and seemed to be torn between wrapping themselves around each other and hiding underneath the piece of furniture. Everyone was 'enjoying' a peaceful night, watching a movie together.

"But this is in black and white! How can black and white be gross?"

"He's getting closer! Doesn't she see him?"

"Ewww!"

Kasy and Sheki were thirteen years old and woefully ignorant of zombie cinema that had been produced beyond the last five years of their lives. When Kim had suggested this particular horror classic, the girls were sure that they would have great fun cracking jokes and pointing out the ridiculous special effects.

Not so much.

Seeing that her daughters were not in the mood for popcorn, Kim reached out and took a handful from the bowl, eagerly waiting for her own snack that was more than a little overdue. A brief flash of light from the television screen illuminated a pale hand that was silently creeping over the back of the sofa and Kim could see the unearthly hand getting ever closer to Sheki's arm. The girl was oblivious of the impending contact but her Mommy saw it and weighed the outcome of allowing the event to occur or nipping it in the bud.

Kim decided that she was a bad parent and let the hand descend.

"… mhhuuuuuuuh…"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Sheki launched herself off of the couch and over the coffee table, dragging with her the terrified form of her sister. Both girls were screaming helplessly when they crashed to the floor and Kim took the burrito that was handed to her, piping hot from the microwave.

"Princess?"

"Hm?"

"What are they going to do if real zombies attack?" Shego stood there in a dark gray sweater and a loose fitting pair of jeans. The burrito was delicious; Kim pondered the question as she savored its rich flavor and eventually forced her answer out around a mouthful of meat and beans.

"We're doomed."

"Momma! You scared the crap out of me! I almost wet my pants!" Kasy was steaming mad as she pulled herself to her feet, her fists balled and glaring at the tall, pale woman, but Sheki was silent as she slowly stood up. Shego switched on the light from where she was standing and grinned. It had been her hand on her daughter's shoulder and her voice doing its best impression of the walking dead. She reached down and helped herself to some of the popcorn as Kim shook her head ruefully and used the remote control to pause the film.

"Well then, young lady, so much for your potty training. Your Mommy and I…" She stopped when she noticed that Sheki was slowly walking out of the room, her pale green face, so like her Momma's, blushing a dusky bruised color. The three glanced at one another until the unfortunate realization dawned and Shego looked stricken, all thoughts of humor driven from her mind.

"Damn it, Kimmie, I didn't mean for anything like that to happen, honest!"

"I know. She'll be Ok."

"I'll talk to her the moment she gets back, I swear!"

Kim watched as her wife slunk back to the kitchen, presumably to fetch the sodas but just as likely because she was ashamed. Kim set down her burrito and grabbed Kasy, the two of them slipping out of the room and down the hallway to where the bathroom light could be seen from under the door. Kim let her redheaded daughter run upstairs and collect a few items from the girls' room while she stayed by the bathroom door.

"Baby, are you alright?"

"… yes, ma'am…"

"Kasy will be here in a minute with some things for you."

"… thank you…"

"Listen, your Momma's really sorry about what happened. She was just trying to be funny. Will you talk to her when you get out?"

"…"

"Please join us when you can, Ok?"

"… ok…"

Kasy was quick to return and she took her Mommy's place by the bathroom; Kim kissed her on the cheek and returned to the living room. There she found Shego, having returned with the drinks and placing them in the desired locations, sitting off to the side in a chair. The couch was the reserved seating for all of the Possibles on movie night, and this meant that the former villain was feeling bad enough to exclude herself. Kim returned to her own place at the far end and opened her drink, waiting to see how this played out. Sheki returned soon enough, sullen and practically dragged by her sister.

"Sheki, sweetheart?" Sheki stopped at the sound of her name being called, slowly moving to the chair but avoiding eye contact. "Baby?"

Shego held out one of her strong hands to her raven-haired daughter, who looked so much like a younger version of her Momma that Kim wondered for the millionth time what her spouse's upbringing had really been like. Their own daughters were growing up so fast, too fast, and it was all that the adults could do to remember that the girls were really young women themselves. At this age, any behavior that could be interpreted as juvenile was perceived as a threat to their being 'all grown up'.

It was several seconds before her Momma's gentle words coaxed Sheki over to the chair and onto the older woman's lap. Kasy sat back down next to Kim with the understanding that that Shego preferred to make her apologies in private. At a nod from Mommy, the younger redhead left the sofa just long enough to switch the lights back off and Kim started the film again, 'searching' back to an earlier scene.

The redheads kept their eyes on the film; Barbara never did avoid hitting that tree with her car, no matter how many times they watched this movie. Kim would occasionally glance over to the chair and see Shego's lips moving as she spoke to the girl being coddled in her arms; Sheki would nod and Shego would say something else, followed by another nod or a shake of the head. Kim knew that the outcome was guaranteed but still breathed a little easier when she eventually saw Sheki relax and her Momma planted a tender kiss across the bridge of the girl's nose.

Shego noticed than Kim watching them; she nudged the teen on her lap and they both stuck out their tongues. The redheads returned fire and Kasy made room for her sister as the half of the family with the long black hair resumed their places. Kim bumped the volume down a notch.

"Are you girls Ok with this film?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"It's Ok, it's just not what we expec… EWWW!" Once again, the girls were wrapped around each other for protection and it was if nothing had happened to disturb their viewing. Shego, after having finished her soda and seeing the popcorn at the far end of the couch, decided to take action against her entire clan; she slipped off her sneakers and pulled herself up onto the couch. She stretched out her long body and rested across the two skinny laps of her children.

"Momma! Ow! Get off!"

"You're too heavy!"

"Oh, so soft, even if a bit scrawny."

The 'scrawny' remark made them clam up. Kim could tell from the hate and fury in Sheki's eyes that all of the drama from before was forgiven and forgotten. The girls gave only a token struggle and quickly gave up when they realized that their Momma's body meant more protection against zombies; they clutched at her long black hair and sweater whenever a new undead menace shambled around the corner. The arrival of a solitary man and his battered pickup truck onto the scene at the abandoned farmhouse made the family pause for a heartfelt salute.

"To Duane!"

"DUANE!"

Shego settled her head onto the lap of her wife.

"Mm, now this is so much softer and comfier… if a little worn."

Kim cocked an eyebrow and glanced down at her former nemesis.

"You'll pay for that, mean and green."

"Feed me, Seymour!" Kim responded by gently tracing a line around Shego's glossy black lips with a popped kernel, tickling the area around the pale woman's mouth before letting a long tongue claim the errant snackage. The film continued without further interruption, not counting the occasional shrieks from the twins. There was one notable exception; from behind her reclining head, Shego heard a faint gurgle. She turned her head, brushing her ear and cheek against the clothed belly of Kim Possible.

"Princess, did you finish that burrito?"

"Uh, huh."

"The whole thing?"

"Yup." Kim grinned down at her wife as Shego summoned the most absolutely menacing look that she ever had.

"Princess, I swear that if you give me another 'Dutch oven' tonight, the marriage is over and you'll wish that Drakken had skinned you alive."

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: If you haven't read 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' this story won't carry the proper impact. True, 'Cookie' was written a LONG time ago and my skill and technique has changed, but this is a direct sequel and continues the same story. Also, while I've hinted as much in other works that have been published before THIS one, I secure in this story that the original 'Night Of The Living Dead' is Shego's favorite movie.


	2. Chapter 2

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Two

The film eventually ended and the girls had to rouse their Momma before they could rise from the couch; Shego had let herself fall asleep before the end of the film because, no matter how many times she watched it, the good guys still died uselessly. She slobbered drowsy kisses all over the disgusted faces of her children and then promptly lost consciousness once more. Kim chased the girls upstairs to bed; able to move by means of nervous energy alone, the three raced to the top of the stairs, their mother winning by a nose.

"Mommy, are you Ok?" Kim had paused to catch her breath, feeling just a tiny bit winded.

"Doy! I'm not as young as I used to be, ya' know!"

Kim grinned and watched her daughters stagger around the room, dressing for sleep on autopilot; they grew more sluggish with each second and were sure to collapse before they found their beds. Taking a seat at their dressing table, Kim brushed Sheki's long black hair while Kasy pawed in her closet for some suitable clothes to wear in the morning. "You two have been up a little later than usual tonight. Why don't you take advantage of the weekend and sleep in just a little?" She knew that this was not likely to occur. "What were your plans?" Sheki, at her side, spoke first.

"Well… we thought that we'd hit the school and see if the cheerleaders are accepting try-outs. They're practicing tomorrow, and, well…" Kim was more than a little surprised; she'd never suspected this.

"You want to be cheerleaders?"

"Yeah, we've been thinking about it."

"Really? It's certainly news to me."

"Please, Mommy, please?"

"Oh, darlings, I don't know…"

"Can we?"

"Please, please, please…!"

"Ok, everybody calm down." Kim waved them off. "I know that your Momma isn't going to like the idea of you two prancing around in those uniforms they wear, and I'm not so sure that I like the idea either." The disappointment was obvious in their tired eyes and knew that she would be three times the hypocrite if she didn't at least consider their request. "But I'd be calling the kettle black. I was a cheerleader when I was in school and I'm certain that this is why your Grandpa is prematurely gray! Tell you what… it's Ok with me if you try out for junior varsity and no matter how much she yells, I'll talk your Momma into accepting it."

"YAY!"

"Now you two babies need to hurry up and get in bed so that I can go back downstairs and drag another big baby up to bed… and she drools." Kim led Sheki, the young girl's eyes already drooping, into her narrow bed and kissed the teen lovingly on the cheek. She noticed her other daughter working at the closet. "You, too, Kasy. Scoot!"

"Yes, Ma'am. I just wanted to set some things out for the morning… but I don't know what the weather's going to be like." The little redhead turned idly away to better inspect the clothing against the light of the bedside lamp, which also gave her a chance to take a look through the room's largest window. "Do you think it might be chilly in the morning, or… AAHH, GEEZ!"

Clothes dropping in a heap, Kasy backpedaled from the window, tripping against her own bed and rolling down the side of it to lie on the carpeted floor. Shocked but already in motion, Kim was kneeling beside the frightened girl and Sheki pulled herself up from her bed to scan the room for whatever had made her sister cry out.

"Kasy Ann!" The girl was shivering in Kim's arms, her pale green hands covering her eyes. "Whatever is the matter?"

"… out on the sidewalk…" Her voice was breathless and her greenish complexion seemed to be even paler than normal.

"What? What's out there?" The redhead motioned to her other daughter, directing her towards the curtained glass. "Sheki, is there anyone out there?"

"Um…" Loath to see or to be seen, Sheki edged towards the window. There was no one in immediate view so, with growing confidence, she moved right up to the window and opened it, leaning far out to get a better look up and down the street. "Nothing out here, Mom." She turned back to her sibling in anxious confusion. "Sorry, Kas, there's no one…"

"BUT I SAW IT!" Tears soaked into the rumpled fabric of Kim's shirt as Kasy clutched it tightly in her hands. The older redhead's shock was fading, slowly being replaced with a suspicion that she knew what had really happened.

"Sweetheart, what do you think you saw?"

"It… it was white and thin and was just… just standing there in the yard!" Painfully aware of how she musted have looked right then, she dragged her sleeve across her face to dry her tears.

Kim stayed down on the floor with the distraught girl while Kasy's twin walked off towards their bathroom; their mother felt a grateful pride as she heard the water being run and Sheki soon returned with a glass of water for her twin. With a questioning look and a nod in reply, they traded placed, Sheki holding her sister with concern in her eyes and helping Kasy to take a sip of the cool water as Kim stood and moved close to the open window.

There were trees with their branches moving easily in the night air and the resulting susurrus, the yellowed light from the streetlamp and the competition between light and darkness, but there was otherwise nothing; the front yard and the street beyond looked peaceful. The only living things in sight were the bugs orbiting the streetlamp. Kim closed the window and turned.

"Kasy, I swear to you that I don't see a thing, but…" Kim was already raising her hands to ward off the young girls protestations. "If you say that you saw something out there then I believe you." Kim held her daughter's face in her hands. "What would you like me to do?"

"I, uh… I don't know." Kasy was calming down faster now, feeling foolish and unsure of the sitch. Her pale green face was swollen from crying and the bruised coloration, the distinctive blush of the plasma-enhanced members of the family, was in evidence.

"How about I take the Kimmunicator out in the yard tomorrow morning and scan the place where you saw the… whatever it was?" Kim was serious; she would never patronize her children when one of them was as frightened as Kasy had been. "Would that be Ok?"

The girl nodded, her eyes downcast. Together the women collected the strewn clothing in silence, Kim giving her child more time to think and rationalize. The older Possible was folding a pair of slacks and watching in silence as both Kasy and Sheki kept stealing glances out through the window and whispering together. Kasy turned and found her mother.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?"

"M… Mom, I might not have seen anything."

"Kasy Ann Possible, if you say that you saw something out there, then I really do believe you." Kim was proud that the girl could think logically but wasn't going to brush off such obvious terror. "The last thing that I want you to tell me is whatever it is that you think I want to hear!"

"Sorry…"

"'Sorry', my keister! No one is going to get away with scaring the daughter of Kim Possible!" This got a grin out of Kasy and the little redhead accepted a nightshirt from her sister. Kim let them finish changing for bed and made ready to tuck them in for the night, now well into early morning. Choosing Kasy's bed so that she might further assuage the fears of the frightened girl, Kim sat down for a final word.

"Sweetheart, please excuse this old fart if she blames the movie for what you think you saw outside, but I will scan for anything that might explain it, Ok? If there was anything out there, we'll know." The girl looked up at Kim with love and confidence.

"Thanks, Mom."

"You are so welcome, baby." She gave the young girl a smooch. "Now, goodnight and pleasant dreams." Kim moved across to Sheki's bed and kissed her as well.

'Night, Mom."

"G'night, Mommy."

"Goodnight, bubble butts!" Kim blew them a kiss as she left the room, switching out the light as she did so. The room was still and silent for a few seconds after she left.

"Sis?" Sheki raised the edge of the sheets covering her bed.

"Please and thank you!" Kasy dove across the gap and climbed in with her sister, snuggling against her twin as even more assurance that all was well.

"You really saw something out there, huh?"

"I did, I swear!"

"Chill, I believe you and so did Mommy, so relax." Sheki glanced up at the shadows of the leaves against the windowpane. " So, did it look like a zombie?"

"Don't be a turd!" Kasy held her sister tighter. "It looked more like a ghost."

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: I'm keeping the chapters shorter than usual, but hopefully delivering just as good a story.


	3. Chapter 3

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Three

Kim made the normal circuit around the ground floor, locking doors and making sure that windows were fastened. As she punched in the security locking codes to the front and rear doors she realized that Kasy had just been calling her 'Mom'. She also realized that she didn't quite care for it. Her daughters might be getting a little too old to call her 'Mommy' and she realized how much she might miss that. She sighed and turned to the living room where the final task of the night awaited her.

"Shego, it's time for bed."

"…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…"

"Shego, it's late and I'm so not in the mood to carry you."

"… zzzzmmhwu… Nah, Doc, the ropes are tight… she's not getting away… zzzzzzz…" Intrigued in spite of herself, Kim sat on the arm of the couch to listen. "… trust me, Doc … zzzzzzzz… lemon curd will neutralize her homing beacon …zzzzzzzz… so I'll slather it on her real thick …zzzzzzzzzzz... heh …"

What is it with my woman and lemon curd? Kim blushed a little and made a mental note to add that to her shopping list. Bitten by the curiosity bug, the slender redhead leaned in close and whispered into the perfectly former green ear.

"Do you expect me to talk?" Even asleep her wife did not disappoint.

"… zzzzzzz… no, Miss Possible, I expect you to squeal!… zzzzzzz…"

Oh, so that's how it is, hmm? Kim needed only a few seconds to think of the perfect words and only a few seconds more to know how she needed to make them sound.

"SHEGO! My doomsday machine is nearly ready and DAMN, that outfit makes your ass look fat!" In the past several years, Kim Possible had found that she had a knack for imitation. Her Senor Senior Senior needed a little work but her Drakken was down pat.

"Ghaa!" Up from the couch and both fists bursting into full plasma emission, the mighty Shego blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked around in confusion. She didn't seem to recognize anything until she noticed her spouse giggling at her. "Kimmie? What the Hell…?" Shego spun around a few times, hands still emitting green death. "What happened? Where's Drakken?"

"Nowhere, Shego. Come on, let's get to bed." Kim chuckled as she led the way upstairs to the master bedroom. Her addled wife blinked and looked around the living room a few more times before following. By the time she made it upstairs to their room, Shego grinned to see her Princess already out of her clothes and scratching at her hip as she prepared for bed.

"What's the matter, Pumpkin? Got an itch?" She smirked. "Can I scratch it for you?"

"Oh, it's nothing…" Kim replied in a singsong tone. "Just my old sub-dermal implant. The frequency of the transponder irritates me sometimes."

"Why don't you ask 'GJ' to remove it for you?" Shego let herself get an eyeful of her angel as the slender woman turned and posed while brushing her teeth in their bathroom. Shego could barely wait and was ready to drag her mate to bed when Kim finished up and saved her the trouble.

"Oh, it's not important. And besides…" Kim slipped her body under the covers and sidled up against Shego. "I have it on good authority that a liberal application of lemon curd will dampen the signals of a sub-dermal implant." Turning down the bed, Shego wondered why that sounded so familiar when she caught sight of something blue and white hanging in the closet. She moved closer and made certain that she was right in her recollections before drawing her wife's attention to it.

"This is the suit, isn't it?" She felt the tight weave of the highly technological battle suit between her fingers.

"Yeah…" Kim stared at the suit before her face turned pink and she returned to the bathroom to rinse. The taller woman followed her to the doorway.

"Has it been here all this time and I've never seen it?" The pale woman leaned against the jamb. "It hasn't, has it?" She waited patiently while Kim finished using the sink.

"No, I had it packed away but brought it out so that I could take it in for Wade to run a diagnostic…" Kim walked out and didn't make eye contact as she located her nightclothes. "It's been a few years and he wanted to make certain that all of the ergonomic sensors were functioning."

"So why haven't you used it?"

"Because… because I was afraid that you might be upset at seeing it. I'm not proud at my behavior that night in the rain at the antenna."

"Uh, huh. Right. What to try again?"

"Well, Ok. The real reason is that I was afraid that you'd think I was weak if I always relied on that suit… that I'd lose my skills by becoming too dependent on it."

"Kimmie, it's called lying. If you're going to do it, learn to do it right, please." Shego smirked. "Those reasons sound nice but they're pure bullshit and you know it. You've kept that thing in mothballs long after we've been together and Team Possible could've really used that edge a few times. Now tell me, what's the real reason?"

"It doesn't fit." Kim blushed deeper, if that were possible, and sighed.

"Excuse me?"

"I said that it doesn't fit, Ok?" Kim huffed in embarrassment.

"What, is it too loose?"

"No."

"Too tight? Where" Shego looked her petite wife up and down. "Too many burritos?"

"No!"

"Too much junk in the trunk?"

"NO!"

"Well, Pumpkin, I'd swear that you probably weigh the same damn thing that you did when we first met so I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It's too tight across the… across my… THESE!" Kim waved her right hand over her chest.

Shego caught herself before the smirk could appear and adopted the look of a proud parent, hands clasped before her and eyes wet.

"Our little Kimmie is becoming a woman!" Out came the smirk. "It's only taken you, what, sixteen years to go from 'B' to 'C'?"

"GHAA!"

Kim Possible, with only one full stride for impetus, flipped into the air and plowed into the larger woman, driving her hard against the mattress. Shego suddenly found herself locked in the iron grip of justice and her exclamation of surprise muffled by something soft and warm and one of a matching pair. She kissed it lightly as the sitch became clearer.

"So is this going to be another 'I'm taking you in, but first', or something out of those fanfics I showed you the other day?"

"Hush, Shego, and don't try to move… you'll aggravate your wounds and then we'll never survive long enough to be rescued!" Kim was hot against her. "I'll keep you warm until help arrives."

Shego smiled; she liked this one.

"Oh, Kimmie, in case I don't make it… cough… I need to tell you how I really feel about you…"

88888888

The girls had talked for a few minutes, the adrenalin from Kasy's 'ghost' giving them a little boost, but they quickly lost the battle to stay awake and had been fast asleep for some time. Kasy had finally convinced herself that she had overreacted to something far less extraordinary than a ghost. She'd likely seen a shadow or a reflection in the glass or something equally mundane but certainly nothing that warranted hysterics.

The bedroom door slowly opened just as it had done for many a night and a slender figure strode into the twins' room and took a seat on Kasy's empty bed; moments later the door was closed, blocking the meager light from the hallway. In and of itself this was not an unusual occurrence; night terrors and even the occasional bad dream had prompted many a nocturnal visit from their parents and the girls had pleasant memories of waking to see either Mommy or Momma seated on one bed or the other, or even in the old rocking chair still kept in their room, watching over them.

Sheki wasn't sleeping as soundly as her twin; the extra body heat in the bed made the girl feel so warm that she awoke within a short time to remove her blanket. Kasy was out like a light and didn't stir except to continue her evenly paced breaths but it was Sheki that peered across the room and with bleary eyes noticed the familiar shape watching them.

"Mommy?"

"Hush, baby, it's Ok." It was her Mommy's voice, to be sure. Sheki was glad that her mother was there, making her feel loved and cherished by the woman's presence. The room was far too dark to see clearly, but the faint glint of light from the streetlamp outside shone through the woman's red hair and her lithe form was comforting and secure.

"… love you, Mom…" Sheki curled against her sister, already starting to fall back to sleep. The woman on the bed stood and moved close, kneeling to look the child in the face.

"And we love you too, sweetheart, your Momma and I." There was movement in the room behind the speaker as something congealed out of the darkness. It was tall and thin and so white as to almost glow with an inner light, not of heat and life but of cold lichens within a dank cellar. The newcomer's eyes glowed as well, a brilliant emerald identical to those of the speaker. The eyes became less distinct as the second figure shambled out of Sheki's line of sight and moved to the opposite side of her narrow bed.

"We always knew that we would find you one day, no matter what." The speaker sounded happy, sounded satisfied. Sheki was too tired to make any sense of the words but the tone struck her young mind as being very odd.

"Mommy…?" She forced herself to stay awake, gently tugging at Kasy to wake her up, too. Where had the other figure gone, the one that moved funny?

"And we'll never let them take you away from us again, I promise."

Kasy never did awaken fully and Sheki was conscious just long enough to sense the hidden figure behind her draw closer and press something sharp and cold against her neck; her head sagged back down onto her pillow as five short needles sank into her flesh and a powerful narcotic entered her system.

"Never again."

88888888

Time Centre was nothing but nachos and elbows as Rufus 3000 and Rufus 2704 recalibrated the chrono-viewer for what seemed like the hundredth time. Events had been unfolding on the enormous display, terrible events that brought much pain and now they were desperate to see that the time sequence was repaired.

"And I'm telling you that we MUST break through the barrier to warn them of what has transpired!" The senior member of the company was pressing an argument that everyone else agreed with heartily but was failing to find away to accomplish. He threw down the tool that he had been using for the past several hours and stalked away from the partially disassembled machine. The others scattered away, unable to assist or console him. "We would be failing in our eternal promise to protect humans, especially these humans, the greatest heroes of our people and the friends of 'The Almighty Ron'!"

"Sir, we know that!" Rufus 2704 was at a complete loss. "But the time-quake has made travel to that period impossible due to the foldback incursion! We haven't the power to pierce the timestream and establish a portal." He followed his compatriot, making a slight detour to snag a tray of hot, cheesy nachos from a nearby worktable. "Unless we can repair the damage to the chronometric flow, we'll remain almost powerless, and…"

"And we need more power than we have to repair the damage, yes, I know, I know! We must get word to them somehow… warn them…" Rufus 3000 was muttering to himself in fugue of emotions. His subordinate approached him and offered the tray. "No, thank you, I… don't want any nachos right now." A collective gasp raced through Time Centre; their leader might as well have suggested mass suicide.

Rufus 2704 slowly set down the tray, his paw shaking too badly to do much else. Carefully walking around to face his superior, he grabbed the fellow naked mole rat across his hairless shoulders and slapped Rufus 3000 across the face.

"Damn it, sir, get a grip on yourself! Now is not the time to lose all hope! You must do something! There's always the fabled 'Power Of Imagination'!" He released his grip to see what would happen but Rufus 3000 simply sat right down on the floor and didn't move.

"I… got nothing…" Rufus 3000 stared down at the floor. Sighing despondently and leaving the tray behind, Rufus 2704 returned to the futile task of performing a miracle of science and the others, with many a backward glance, returned to their labors.

The zesty scent of the cheese eventually wafted up to the nose of the despondent figure; a whisker twitched and he glanced down at the tray.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Rufus 3000 lifted a nacho to his mouth and ate it. "Bring forth… the Kigophone!" Moments later, several of the rodents returned bearing a hybrid device on a wheeled cart. A merging of two ancient pieces of technology, an original Kimmunicator and one of the later models of Shegophone, the communications tool was their greatest hope.

88888888

Shego found herself alone when she came downstairs in her never-ending quest for morning coffee. Since the bed had been empty, it was likely that her Princess was out for her usual run but that didn't explain the absence of her girls. Saturday usually meant a morning with her daughters, something that the former villain relished dearly. The silence in the house told her that her girls were already out. It wasn't long before Kim returned, glistening and ruddy as expected.

"Hey, beautiful." Kim glided over and leaned in to accept the proffered kiss from the pale green woman.

"Good morning, baby. Sleep well?"

"Like the dead…" Shego hadn't been to the shower yet and she ran her fingers through her mass of unkempt hair to get it away from her face. "Kimmie, we have to talk about this new habit of yours." She wore a look of uneasy frustration.

"What habit would that be?"

"Oh, I think that you know which one!" Shego's voice became nasally when she pinched her fingers over her nose. "It's the gross one!"

"Shego, shush!" Kim blushed a little but her grin was wide. "You'll wake the girls."

"Don't change the subject!" Shego's pale green face wrinkled in disgust. "Your new name is 'Stinky Possible'. I'm going to tell your Mother about this!"

"Who do you think gave me the idea? She did it to Dad all of the time… probably still does." Kim giggled and walked to the counter to pour some hot tea.

"You nasty!" Shego glared after her former enemy as if never having seen the real Kim Possible before. She settled for drinking half of her coffee in one swallow. "Have you seen the girls?"

"No, they were already gone when I woke up."

"Gone? Gone where?"

"Well… they told me last night that they'd wanted to get out early this morning." Kim had forgotten to think of a convincing story to tell her mate and she wasn't going to lie. "Shego, what did you think about my cheerleading days?"

"From when you were at school?"

"Yes." Kim sipped the hot beverage.

"I thought you looked damn hot in the little uniform." She appraised the slender woman's trim form. "You still do."

Nuts, that was not the answer that Kim wanted to hear… well, not exactly.

"Ok, what about the other cheerleaders? How did you feel about them?"

"I just wanted my Princess, otherwise I couldn't give a tinker's dam." The pale green woman cocked an eyebrow. What was her angel getting at?

"Why?"

Kim refreshed her tea and sat down.

"Well, I kind-a, sort-a, maybe…" The younger woman started blushing.

"Kimmie…"

"I told the girls that they could attend cheerleader try-outs at Middleton High School this morning."

"Oh. Well, I guess… you did WHAT?" If the demand for clarification had been punctuated with a flaming plasma strike, Kim would not have been the least bit surprised.

"Shego, they told me last night that they really wanted to go out for cheerleading this year. I promised that I would discuss it with you…"

"Yeah, and you were planning to discuss it with me after you'd already given them permission to go?" The older woman was incredulous. "What happened to, "oh yes, we'll share the decisions about the girls' and 'we'll talk about things first', huh?"

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't see the harm."

"'Didn't see the harm', she says!" Shego glared at her. "They're only thirteen, for crying out loud! They're too young to be parading around like little sluts!"

"Ok, first of all, I was thirteen when I joined the junior varsity and I was performing my first mission when I was fourteen. I think that they're old enough to be cheerleaders." Kim kept her voice measured and calm; she would be the voice of reason this morning, it seemed. "And second of all, they're not 'little sluts'… they're our daughters and if you think 'parading around' in front of hundreds of students, parents and teachers makes them 'sluts' then what did that make me?"

"First of all, Pumpkin, don't forget that you had me ogling you behind your back when you were fourteen! I don't want my girls ogled at this age, that age, or ANY age! They're still babies! And I hate to tell you this, Kimmie, but you WERE a slut!"

"Really?" Kim did her best to stay serious; Shego was madder than Kim had seen in some time, and she didn't want to rile her spouse any more than she already was. "I was a slut? Bonnie was a cheerleader, did that make her a slut?"

"Biggest slut of all, after you…" The taller woman spun away and sat glaring into a corner with her arms crossed. Kim knew that her wife didn't mean that, no matter how angry she was. Bonnie was their good friend and even if Shego were mad enough to call Kim a slut, she would never have said that about Bon-Bon.

"Shego, they're smart girls and you were present at 'The Talk'. You were the one that scared the daylights out of them and probably increased their chances of entering a Nunnery by ten percent." Kim saw that Shego was taking this in even is gave all the appearance of ignoring her younger wife. "You are I were a special case. I trust that our girls didn't need to hear, 'Watch out for any over-eager boys AND also for any female super villains that just want to get you in the sack'."

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Shego was stung by the implication. "I never… it wasn't like that!" A pale arm shot out and jabbed a long finger at the redhead. "You know DAMN WELL how many it takes to Tango, sweetheart!"

"You're right, and I'm sorry." Kim needed to keep this from degrading into a brawl so she had to make a point, and make it quickly. "There was time to have discussed this with you last night before we went to sleep but I didn't think of it." She took the plunge. "I guess that since that genie is out of the bottle, they'll be talking to boys and going out on dates."

"Kim, stop it. It's not a joke." Shego's mouth was a hard line.

"Dances, that's another thing. They'll probably get invitations to dances, now."

"Cut it out, I'm warning you!"

"And then they might start drinking. Or worse… drugs." Kim knew the risk she was taking with her next comment. "I should also stop by the family clinic and…"

Shego was up and actually leapt across the kitchen table, robe streaming behind her like a cape, to grab Kim and haul her out of her chair to slam her against the opposite wall and hold her several inches off the floor. Kim didn't resist.

"What is WRONG with you? Those are MY girls you're talking about! They're good girls and they're smart and just because they want to cheer is NOT going to make them… make them…"

"Sluts?" Kim matched her mate stare for stare. Shego was breathing heavily and when she'd finally calmed down a little she simply released her wife and let Kim drop down onto the soles of her feet.

"I'm still angry with you, so this is not over, Ok?"

"That's fair." Kim rubbed the back of her head, massaging away the pain from where she struck the wall. "I really am sorry that I left you out of the decision." Kim lifted gaze and saw it as a good sign when Shego didn't look away. "How about this… when the girls get back around lunch time we talk to them about some big girl stuff. Would that be a good idea?"

"No." Shego walked out of the kitchen and called back over her shoulder. "Call them now. Make a lunch date at Bueno Nacho and we'll meet them there." Encouraged by Shego's insistence, Kim reached for the phone and performed a 'quick-dial' of her daughters' shared cellular telephone. Feeling foolish at her error in judgment but vindicated by her argument, she listened to the electronic ringing for a while before she realized that this wasn't right.

Why didn't the girls answer? Before the wireless network could offer to take her recorded message, she ended the call and dialed again. When the ringing recommenced, puzzlement became concern as she saw Shego return to the kitchen holding a buzzing cell phone in her hand and a confused look on her pale green face. It was the girls' phone.

"Where?"

"In the hall. They…"

"… never leave without it." Kim hung up the telephone and calmly reached for the contact number listing she kept of her daughters' friends and their parents. Shego could see that her angel was fighting against that natural fear that all parents felt and silently moved beside the petite redhead and sat down next to her; the anger from their discussion had evaporated.

"Hey, Kimmie, they're Ok, I'm sure. They just forgot the thing, that's all."

"Our girls? Please… every time they leave the house they pretend it's a mission." Her hand shook slightly, the only obvious sign of her anxiety. "They even refer to their cell phone as their own Kimmunicator."

As if on cue, every Kimmunicator, Shegophone and telephone in the house began to chime.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: Suspense! A little cliffhanger AND the briefest of reintroductions of my two darkest conceptualizations; you'll have to wit a bit longer for a better look.


	4. Chapter 4

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Four

"Have we made contact yet?"

"The signal's been received, sir!" Rufus 2704 checked the readings. "We've boosted it with every last bit of energy we have. What now?" Being unable to securely project and stabilize a time portal so that they could send physical reinforcements, the naked mole rats from the future did the next best thing; they would contact and warm Team Possible of what had happened.

But then they would be on their own.

"Hold it steady and don't lose the connection, no matter what happens!" The short and buff form of Rufus 3000 called out from behind the large dressing room mirror. "I'm almost ready!"

One major concern was that while the rodents had information of dire importance to relay to the heroes, there was a need for anonymity to preserve the timeline. They had broken that rule when Rufus 3000 traveled to the past to visit Kasy and Sheki a few relative months previous, but they dare not risk the integrity of the timeline through too many visits. Therefore it was decided that Rufus 3000 would wear a disguise this time.

"So who should it be?" There had been a quick discussion in what little time they had. "Who would be the most appropriate person to be contacting 'The Beloved KP'?"

"Consult the ancient records!" Several huge tomes were brought forth and the fragile pages were carefully inspected. "There are many references to a 'Doctor Director'! Maybe a call from this person would be suitable?"

"What sort of name is 'Doctor Director'?" Rufus 3000 had frowned. "It sounds pretty redundant to me."

"But what shall we do? There is so little time!"

"Agreed! Make one last check of the ancient records and also cross reference the title of 'Doctor' with whatever best parallels this sitch." They scattered to their tasks

In the end, there was only one possibility.

"Well, what do you think?" Rufus 3000 walked out from around the mirror and held out his arms, turning so that all present could see him. The others inspected him curiously.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

"That's right."

"What?"

"Not what. Who."

"You're who?"

"Yes." They shook their heads and gave up, letting him by to hurry over to the console.

"Hey!" One of the junior-grade attending Rufus' ran in from the wardrobe storage closet holding a set of false dentures. "He forgot these!" The naked mole rat was quickly calmed down by one of his cohorts.

"Believe us, we've seen images of the human Rufus 3000 is hoping to masquerade as… his own teeth will do just fine." They watched in concern as their superior positioned himself in front of the picto-recorder and waited for the countdown. A Rufus in the mid-200's adjusted a tiny headset and nodded.

"Ok, you're on in 5… 4… 3… 2… " A single digit signified the final numeral and transmission began.

88888888

"Kimmie, tell them we're busy. Better yet, don't answer it."

"But they're all ringing!"

"I don't care! Ignore them all!"

"It could be them, or someone calling about them!" Kim activated her Kimmunicator to an unfamiliar face. She and her wife stared at it, bewildered.

It was impossible to get a true idea of scale on the miniscule screen, but the image was of a humanoid figure wearing a long dark coat over tweed vest and white shirt. The facial features were almost totally obscured by a long multi-colored scarf that was wrapped around the neck and a full head of curly brown hair that almost covered the eyes. There was also a huge set of pearly white teeth grinning hesitantly out at them.

"Hello!"

The women glanced at each other in puzzlement.

"Um, hello."

"Kimmie, hang up!"

"Don't you want to know why he's calling us first?"

"It's not Wade or anyone else from 'GJ' and we need to find the girls, so pretty please with sugar on top, please hang up the damn thing and let's get going!"

"Um, excuse me, but it is about your children that I am calling you." The figure on the screen seemed frantic to get their attention. "Will you please listen?"

"Spill, or so help me…"

"Shego, maybe he's calling to help!"

"Do we know this guy? No! He's probably a new villain." Shego glared down at the image on the screen. "Are you going to tell us where our babies are or do I hunt you down and give you a plasma enema?"

"He looks familiar, somehow." Kim wracked her brain. "I think that my cousin Larry had a picture of him in his room!"

"Please! Please listen to me!" The figure shouted to get their attention. "I am a friend, but… but I cannot help you in person. I do know what's happened to your daughters, though!" The scarf kept getting in his way and the mysterious figure kept tugging it down. "They are safe for now but the rest of the world won't be if you don't get involved."

"What's the sitch?" Kim had slipped into mission mode as quickly as that, calming her fears and sharpening her mind. The strange figure on the tiny screen nodded with satisfaction; separated by several hundred years but only a block down the street, Rufus 3000 knew that their chances of hope had increased a hundredfold.

"Your children were taken from their beds late last night by two assailants. Again, I stress to you that Kasy and Sheki are well!" He tugged the scarf down again. "The enemy is deadly and they… they know everything that you know."

"Huh?"

"What?" The statement seemed to imply something more deeply sinister than the obvious. "What does that mean? Do we know them?"

"Yes… yes you do know them. And when I say that they know everything that you know, I mean exactly that!" The odd person huffed in frustration. "The girls have been taken to an old lair outside of town. The Mighty Shego knows of where I speak."

Shego's face wore an expression that Kim could not read.

"Please, time is of the essence, you must…" The tiny screen went blank. Exactly one heartbeat later, the older members of Team Possible were running upstairs to locate their mission clothes.

88888888

"I just hope that they can handle what they're about to face." Rufus 3000 divested himself of his disguise.

"Why didn't you just tell them about the Supreme One?" The naked mole rat politely waited as his superior unwound the scarf and removed the coat and vest. "And who the Supreme One is?"

"Because I didn't think that they would believe me. The only encounter that either human has had with our kind is from a timeline that was severed and the future sequence of events made to collapse. And anyway, 'The Mighty Shego' was the Supreme One in that future, not 'The Beloved KP'."

"So what do we do now?"

Rufus 3000 look at him, he looked around the large room at all of them.

"We pray."

88888888

Kasy was cold and this brought her out of her drug-induced sleep. She rolled over while still nestled in her semi-conscious state and reached out for her blankets. The narcotic had been strong, very strong, and while it had eventually been metabolized by her enhanced physical makeup it had been powerful enough to keep her and her sister out for hours. A normal human without the benefits of their special abilities would either still be unconscious or dead from heart failure.

The little redhead forced herself up onto one elbow and cracked open her eyes. The room was dark. Blinking repeatedly didn't improve the sitch but it did bring into focus some tiny clusters of colored lights a few yards away. The realization that this was not her bedroom was reinforced further when she touched the coarse, gritty mattress that she had been sleeping on and noticed that it didn't seem to have been outfitted with a set of blankets, hence the chill.

The good news was that she wasn't alone.

"Sheki!" Her twin was lying beside her on the padding, apparently asleep and barely visible in the gloom. "Sheki, wake up!"

"Nnnnnn…" The other girl stirred. "… five more minutes, Mommy, please…"

"No, Shek, you've got to get up…" Kasy could see no other details in the black void except for the multicolored lights. They were small and mounted on a flattened panel, some blinking and some continuously lit. "Now!"

"Kasy?" She groaned and slid her hand up to her neck, prodding at the skin. "Where's Mommy?" The little girl with the long black hair opened her eyes but otherwise did not move.

"Mommy?"

"I remember her talking to me…I think… but this isn't our bedroom." She moved a little and rubbed at her neck again. "Ow…"

"Shek, what's wrong?"

"My neck hurts." Sheki pulled herself up into a sitting position on the mattress. Kasy hadn't noticed a similar burning because of her uncomfortable awakening but now that her sister mentioned it…

"Mine, too." She felt her own flesh; the skin was unbroken but felt slightly tender and itchy, like a bee sting. There might have even been welts on the skin, but they usually didn't get welts or inflammations because of their shared healing ability. "Did you say that Mom was here?"

"Yeah… she came into our room." The girl roused herself and scooted closer to her sister. "Hey, where are we?"

"I got nothing." Kasy wondered what lay beyond the edge of the mattress. "Maybe we should…"

"Shield your eyes, girls, I'm going to turn on the lights."

Recognition of their Mommy's voice was overridden by the harsh glare that suddenly rained down from a row of spotlights far above their heads. They screwed their eyes shut against the bright light and covered their faces as they huddled together, removing their hands slowly and only when the light seeping through their fingers had allowed their pupils to dilate sufficiently.

That this was not their bedroom was heartily confirmed. It was a large and cluttered room with machines and nameless devices occupying much of the floor space. Their first actual sight had been of their mattress as they uncovered their eyes and it looked every bit as filthy and dirty as it had felt beneath their hands. The chamber itself was no better appointed; water pooled in places and chunks of what must have been ceiling littered the floor, even to the point of having fallen on and damaging some of the machinery.

The silhouette standing before them blotted out a little of the blinding light, so they focused on that. The shape was joyously familiar and comforting. If she was here, so not the drama!

"Mom…?"

"Mommy?"

"Yes, darlings, I'm here." The form was slender and petite, standing before them with her hands on her hips and her bearing regal. The blue and white suit that she wore clung to her figure like a second skin and the brilliant blue cape hung from her shoulders and blocked more of the harsh light. "You girls have been through a lot… so, so much." She knelt down to bring herself eye level with the twins and the horror of true recognition set in.

"… so much…"

Sheki couldn't tear her eyes away from the woman but Kasy reacted to the second voice, or had it merely been an echo? She returned her stare to the redhead kneeling down before them, the faintest hints of gray starting to interweave with the fiery tresses, the tiniest of lines creasing the older woman's lips and eyes. The face was more than familiar; they saw it every day of their lives and looked forward to the laughter that often floated from that perfect mouth. But this face was harder, leaner.

"I do not know how this miracle has come to pass but we are together again, the four of us." She smiled at them and again the second voice could be heard.

"… together…"

"I would have believed the world to have ended."

"… the end of the world…" The second voice was definitely not an echo.

"And yet I live and, what's more, you two have been returned to me!" Kasy shivered as the woman raised her hands to cup their chins; Sheki at least had the benefit of a real hand formed of flesh and bone but the one under Kasy's jaw was a segmented metallic simulacrum that hummed with artificial life but shed no human warmth. The wrought fingers flexed and clicked.

"I know not what forces have conspired to take and hide you from me all these long years…" The semblance of kindness drained slowly from the face.

"… years of emptiness…"

Was there someone behind them in the dark?

"But the cowardly usurpers who have falsely guised themselves as your rightful sires have made a dreadful mistake!" A deadly green fire poured from the woman's eyes. More sound from the darkness behind them, fabric against concrete in the shadows.

"… back in our loving arms…"

"I have reclaimed you in silence but will wreak my vengeance upon the deceivers with great fury!" The slender woman seemed to forget that the girls were even there as she rose to her feet and the overhead lights made her hair flow as if her face were sheathed in a halo of fire.

Kasy and Sheki had last seen this woman just a few short weeks ago when the twins had made a brief foray into the future, a trip of fifteen years to be exact, their escort being a naked mole rat that had claimed to be the genetically advanced descendant of Rufus. While there, they had watched this woman torture and order the execution of one of their mothers' oldest friends and allies.

The woman that they had called 'Mommy' all of their lives and that the rest of the world called Kimberly Ann Possible raised her right fist in triumph; it flared with green death as a plasma field burst into existence.

"They will know death at the hands of the Supreme One!"

"… all praise the majesty and holy wisdom of the Supreme One…" The ghostly voice was directly behind them now. Even in the face of this nightmare, the twins turned to look back over their shoulders at the second woman that had slowly crept out of the darkness.

She was tall and razor thin, wearing no clothes that they could discern but shrouded from head to foot in a simple white sheet. What little they could see of her skin was bone white with hints of green and her feet were indeed bare and they could barely see the top of her head; the scalp was almost shorn, what little hair remained was as white as the skin. The only other features that marked her were her emerald eyes, exact duplicates of the other three sets in this ruined chamber, and her wounds. The visible flesh was scarred, enflamed and obviously infected in places; the girls could smell the sickness upon her and see the damage that could only have been caused through years of mutilation, self-inflicted or otherwise. One leg was cocked outward and dragged while one arm was twisted in an odd way at the elbow and the back was slightly humped as if the spine itself were no longer straight. Even the neck was bent, holding the head askew.

"… darlings…"

The voice would have been at home in a crypt. It was all the girls could do not to throw up.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: If you'd like a great visual, please check out this amazing picture (.com/art/A-Mistake-in-the-Destiny-55585959) by YogurthFrost that he created after having read 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes'.


	5. Chapter 5

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Five

"It'd better not be clones!"

"Shego, calm down."

"I'm just saying… it'd better not be FREAKING clones!" The tall woman gripped the dashboard in front of her so hard that the vinyl creaked. Kim regarded her spouse carefully from her vantage point behind the wheel and continued to follow the directions that Shego had given her.

"I hate clones!"

"No? Really?"

They had ended the brief but cryptic conversation with their mysterious benefactor and had run upstairs to change; nightclothes and exercise wear had become one long-sleeved Kevlar weave tunic and loose fitting olive drab cargo pants, and one sleek and Global Justice enhanced combat uniform, a harlequin pattern of green and black to match the wearer's tastes. Kim had only to consider the sitch for a second before she made certain to include one more item of clothing to her ensemble, this one underneath her outfit. When they met at the car they had one more surprise in store for each other.

"What's in the duffle bags?" Kim had watched Shego exit the garage with each of the large canvas bags under her arms and deposit them in the trunk.

"Just a few things that I saved from the old days."

"Then… I suppose that I should put this back there, too." Kim brought out a much smaller satchel and placed it beside the bags before closing the trunk; Shego's eyes widened but she didn't ask what was inside. There was a very quick debate over who should drive but the outcome of that argument was inevitable.

"I still say that I'm a better driver, Princess." Shego glared out at the road and clenched her fists. They had been driving away from town for several minutes.

"I never said that you weren't." Kim checked her speed and switched to a dirt road that would take them away from Middleton completely. "It's just that you're a little too angry right now and I don't want you behind the wheel of a car." This had been less than twenty minutes ago and they were drawing close to their destination. The pair had been silent for most of the drive except for the occasional outburst from Shego. "So who says it has to be clones?" Kim needed to speak but she would approach her question slowly and carefully.

"Well, doy! Who else could know everything we know, huh? That's what he said, right"

"But how did they get in the house?" Kim began to recognize the landscape; it had been ages since she had been out here to fight Drakken. "We had 'GJ' wire the place better than Fort Knox."

"They must have known the security code!" The older woman had stopped looking outside of the vehicle's windows; she was starting to recognize the landscape. "I hate clones!"

"So… tell me about this lair." Kim knew that there was simply no way to ask that question casually. Her wife did not respond right away, wrapping her arms around herself and looking down at her lap. Kim gave her what time she needed to answer the question.

"Soon after we were married, I started to… wonder if I'd made a mistake." The admission hurt the former villain and she had only one reaction to pain… anger.

"Oh."

"'Oh', my ass, Kimmie! This was years ago! The girls were toddlers for crying out loud!" Shego was yelling at her in the confined space of the front seat. "I was being stupid and scared and didn't know where life was taking me!" Her voice tore and cracked under the strain of her screams. "I loved you but I still had my doubts… about staying together…"

"But you did. Stay, I mean." It wasn't a question.

"I'd have never left you." A strong hand clamped around Kim's forearm as she steered the car. "I loved you then and I love you a gazillion times more today."

"And the lair?" Kim had welcomed the change in her wife's volume and tone; she felt the pain almost as much as did her wife. "What does it have to do with that?"

"Well, it's like this…" Calm now, emotion spent, Shego sounded like she was describing a trip to the supermarket. "One of the last places that you and the Doc and Stoppable and I had ever fought as enemies was this particular lair, this one just outside of town. You and the buffoon won…"

"Naturally."

"… BARELY… and Stoppable managed to trash the place in the process. It was a shambles and cited for destruction by the City of Middleton later that year." She sighed. "I broke into the office of the city engineers and stole the paperwork. With everything else that they had on their plate, the local bureaucracy soon forgot all about it and the lair was left to rot." She turned to glance out of the window beside her for the first time in several miles. "It's not very big and it's ruined and hardly fit for human habitation, but it's got power and I stocked it with some food and water…"

"When did you go there?"

"There were times that I told you… told you that I had security jobs to do for clients overseas. Most of the time it was true but some times I'd stay at the lair for a day or two. Other times it was just for a few hours." Shego turned and looked Kim squarely in the face. "Pumpkin, I swear to you that I haven't been out here in over ten years. I'm sorry now that I lied to you then, but at the time I would never have been able to admit what I was doing to you and… I just needed the place."

"I forgive you." It was as simple as that. "What exactly did you need it for?"

"To remind myself of what the old days were like, or to withdraw when the 'real world' started to crush in just a little too much." Shego managed to smile a little. "Suddenly having a life and family and outsiders that give a shit about you can be a little intimidating!"

"The old days, were they better?"

"No, Princess, they weren't better! Doy!" Shego's frustration evoked a smile on Kim's face this time. "But without a reminder of what I'd left, I couldn't appreciate what I'd gained!" She was silent for a short time and then gestured beyond the windscreen. "We're here."

As the car rolled to a stop, Kim recalled the fight that had occurred here that day and how she and Ron and Rufus had first approached the sandy mound that covered the partly underground lair. Shego was right when she said that the lair hadn't been large; there had been no real habitation quarters for Drakken's henchmen, just a central chamber and a few smaller cells for storage and the power generator. She also remembered how Shego had fought that day and how her verbal barbs and quips had stung and goaded the young hero.

Kim turned to ask Shego if she was ready but the pale green woman was already out of the car. Feeling oddly alone, Kim got out of the car and gave a careful inspection to her mission gear while her spouse moved around to the rear of the vehicle. She hardly paid any mind to the trunk being popped open but a new sound caught her attention like a steel trap.

"… nnnnnnnnn…" It was coming from the open trunk of the car.

"Shego, is that you?" There was no reply. "Shego?"

"…nnnnnnnnn…"

Kim walked around to the rear of the car and was greeted by a sight that chilled her heart. Shego was sitting down on the dried grass at the rear of the car with her arms wrapped around herself and rocking back and forth. Tears were streaming down her face and she looked up at her startled wife, the black glossed lips apparently being held shut from within by her teeth.

"… nnnnnnnnn…"

"Shego! What's wrong?" Kim dropped down beside her. "Talk to me!" Strong hands unfolded to grasp at the black tunic and Kim was pulled close, smelling the scent of her wife and feeling the heat of her body. The lips parted but Kim could not hear the words.

"…"

"Shego, what…?"

"… they have my girls…"

"Baby, I know." The sitch was becoming clearer. "We're here to get them back, I swear."

"… someone has my girls, Kimmie…"

"Shego, stand up." The pale green face reacted in shock to the commanding tone of Kim's voice. The lithe form stood and hauled the larger woman up to her feet, tiny hands locked around the uniformed shoulders. "I need you to stand up right now."

"… and I don't know if… if I can…"

"Don't give me this 'I don't know' shit."

"Kim?" The rebuke hit Shego like a fist to her heart.

"I don't have time for it and I sure as Hell know two little girls who don't have time for it!" Shorter by several inches, the power in those emerald eyes burned into the matching pair of her partner. "They don't need their Momma here today… they need that vile, crafty, villainous bitch-witch who almost brought the world to its knees on more than one occasion." Kim released the taller woman and backed off a little. "If you know where I can find her, please tell her that there's a mission that needs doing." Kim leaned against the fender and waited.

It was only moments before something seemed to flare and grow under that green and black uniform, filling the body of her wife with a little of that old hate and bitter anger that made the woman such a deadly force once upon a time. The petite redhead beheld someone that looked disturbingly like the old Shego, and it frightened Kim a little when the pale green face regarded her coldly. There was nothing to do for it but move forward.

"So… what's in the duffle bags?"

"You're a little bitch, do you know that?" There was a time when those words and that tone would have put Kim Possible on her guard against a fight for her life.

"Ain't I something?" Kim breathed easier when her wife turned towards the trunk and bent down over the duffle bags, her expression reading all business; the sitch was improving. Shego untied both bags and up-ended the contents.

"What we have here are your basic phosphorus grenades, three short fuse and three long, six tear gas cartridges and gas masks for all of us, an infrared viewer…"

"Is that a utility belt?"

"… all attached to this utility HARNESS." Shego's only other reaction was to reach out and pull her petite spouse tight against her body with her free arm. "We also have electro-shock stunners, gas-propelled tranquilizer darts, laser cutting torch… and this." Shego held out an unopened can of soda.

"I seriously doubt that they're clones, baby."

"Just in case." She eyed Kim's much smaller satchel. "And what did you bring to the party, Princess?"

With a frown, Kim reached down and popped open the buckle and folded back the flap of the satchel to withdraw and reveal a compact and impressive looking handgun. The taller woman stood speechless as Kim also removed a holster and proceeded to strap on the weapon. Shego eventually found her voice, but was almost too stunned to speak.

"Pumpkin, you're packing a roscoe?" She stared at the weapon. "Wait a second… what exactly is that thing?" There was no bore at the end of the barrel and there was no moving slide or visible method of replacing ammunition.

"It's new from 'GJ'" Kim didn't look up at her, keeping both her eyes and her tone low. "It's a handheld plasma accelerator. It uses wakefield technology and packs quite a punch up to thirty yards." She handled the weapon naturally. "More than that and the plasma micro-core dissipates too much to be viable."

"It's a gun."

"So?"

"But it's a gun." Shego stared at her like she had grown a second head.

"This one was a prototype and they let me have it after they'd perfected the final design."

"Kimmie, it's still a gun. You never use guns." Maybe even a third head and an extra knee.

"It's a gun and I never use guns but that didn't stop me from earning the rank of third best marksman at Global Justice." Kim wasn't even blushing, her emotions outpacing her body's ability to react to her feelings. She did match her wife's stare, however. "They're my girls, too, and someone's about to discover that they've screwed around with the wrong mom."

"Ok." Shego digested this new development as best as she was able. "Then let's saddle up." They each checked their equipment one more time and Kim doubled-checked the latches on her spouse's utility 'harness'. The distance to the hidden entrance of the lair was just about a hundred yards away but they didn't immediately move in that direction; instead they skirted the old path and ran through the scrub towards the western face of the barren hill, away from the entrance and the concealed loading bay, back around to wear the slag from the original excavation was piled.

"If they know what we know…" Kim moved like a fox through the vegetation. "Then we'll just have to make sure that we don't know what we're doing."

"Good plan." Shego, for her larger size, kept pace with the smaller woman and made hardly any noise at all. "There's nothing back here that I was ever aware of." She allowed herself the embarrassing pause to catch her breath, forgivable in her mind because she was nearing forty years of age, and smirked over to the petite redhead. "Third best, huh?"

"Yeah."

"So?"

"Doc Betty and then Will Du."

"Which means that you only beat…?"

"Approximately two hundred and fifty other agents and independent operatives." Kim actually managed to sound dejected. "I can't even try again until next March."

"My hero." Shego reached out and forced Kim to run a little faster if she wanted to avoid getting her butt pinched.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: Saddle up, true believers! Team Possible prepares for WAR!


	6. Chapter 6

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Six

"Kasy, you've just got to pick that lock!"

"I'm trying to!" The girl wiped the sweat from her face. "You're not helping!" The diminutive redhead had been hunkered down before the latch of the storage closet door for almost an hour, insufficient light and just a little stress making the task of rotating the tumblers a bit difficult.

"Sorry."

"S'kay." Kasy risked a break in her concentration to glance at her twin, the raven-haired girl sitting a few feet away and rubbing her neck. "Still hurts, huh?"

"Yeah." Sheki rubbed at the enflamed skin and resisted the urge to scratch at it with her nails but the welts were far too painful for that. "Do you think that we've been poisoned?"

"I don't know. I thought that normal poisons wouldn't affect us." Kasy lifted her shoulder, hoping that the movement would alleviate the cramping along the side of her head from her own set of five tiny wounds. "Can you light up, yet?"

"Nope." Sheki was already holding out her arms and clenching her fists tight; neither girl had been able to generate more than a pale glow and a meager warmth around their hands since they had awakened, yet another sign that they had been given a drug that was both powerful and especially tailored to inhibit their particular physical makeup.

"Me, neither." Kasy stopped her work at the latch for a moment. "I hate feeling weak and powerless like this." She huffed in frustration. "I guess that's why Momma gets so mad when she's feeling vulnerable and stuff."

"I just hope that our special metabolism can burn through this." Sheki felt a little scared. "It's kind of like that time Alexander got stung by that bee and his hand swelled up."

"I remember." Kasy could feel a little of that fear herself, creeping along her spine. "We don't get sick like Mom and Grandma and Grandpa do. It sucks."

"Yeah…" Sheki had drawn up her knees and wrapped her arms around them while Kasy returned to her work on the lock, neither girl wanting to talk too much lest one of them accidentally mention their mothers and begin sobbing again.

After the initial shock of their second encounter with the warped, alternate-future versions of their parents, the girls had weathered the meeting in silence until the two adults had left the storage room and secured the children inside. Feigning exhaustion and feeling ill to avoid having to speak much, not too far from the truth considering the toxin that they had been injected with, the twins managed to hold themselves together until they were alone. Promising to check on them later, the Supreme One had kissed them and hugged them and left with her ghastly cohort for the central chamber, at which point the girls had grasped each other and wept in terror.

These were murderers, these twisted and psychotic reflections of the Mom and Momma that they loved and revered. Just a few months previous, a mysterious stranger from the future, a genetically naked mole rat claiming to be a descendant of Rufus, had proven to the twins that they were not yet ready to accompany their parents on missions, and had done so in a way that had given them nightmares for days. He had shown them a future in which they had not survived; a world where they had died years before and their parents had been severely traumatized by their deaths. Their Mommy had become a tyrant calling herself 'The Supreme One' and their Momma had degenerated into a creeping thing that lived to be brutalized by her spouse, both of them hating themselves and each other for what had happened to their daughters but so dependent upon their being together that they could not stand to be apart.

In this there was an irony; neither woman believed that their daughters were truly dead. The Kasy and Sheki of that world had apparently been vaporized by an explosion, their bodies destroyed without a trace, but in their grief their parents chose to believe that the girls had been kidnapped, their deaths staged, and that a ransom would eventually be demanded. Kim and Shego had never ceased to scour the planet for their children or the 'enemy' who stole their girls from them, their attacks upon the free world as deadly as those they visited upon their enemies.

Thousands of people died as a result of their madness.

The twins now realized how lucky they had been the last time. Then, in the company of Rufus 3000, they had been invisible, a trick of the manipulation of time. Now they were in the spotlight as 'proof' to their 'parents' that they had been alive all this time.

"One thing, Shek…"

"Yes?"

"Aren't we too young to be their daughters?"

"I guess so, yeah." Sheki's brow furrowed. "We… they… died when they were our age now, and these two come from fifteen years into that world's future, so we'd… they'd… be almost Mommy's age if we… they… had just been held hostage all this time."

"And they don't notice this?"

"Doy! Do they look like they'd care?"

"I guess not…" Kasy wiped her brow; there was one last tumbler left and it was a doozy. "How'd they get here, anyway? Didn't Rufus 3000 say that it was a future that would never come to pass, or something?"

"I got nothing. It doesn't…" Something beyond the door caught Sheki's attention, a sound barely on the edge of audibility. "Kasy, get back!"

"What…?"

"Outside! Someone's coming!" Sheki moved over to give her sister room to join her on the mattress. There were a few seconds of absolute silence, punctuated with the staccato beating of their hearts, before the latch shifted and the storage room door creaked open.

"… my babies…"

It was the spectral Shego, her white shroud transparent as she stood in the doorway with the light behind her. The girls winced at the sight of the pronounced ribs and hip bones due to lack of meat on the frame, and the deformations caused by more than a decade of abuse and self-mutilation. Only the eyes burned with their own light, an emerald fire that blazed from the open folds of the sheet where it framed the woman's gaunt face.

"… you do not sleep…" It was several seconds before the girls realized that this was a question.

"Um… no… Ma'am."

The girls watched as the woman lurched into the room, one thin arm carrying a bundle of something. The primary feature that made this apparition seem so sick and wrong for being an alternate version of their Momma was the lack of grace and power; age and lifestyle had changed the mindset and attitude of their real Momma but she was always the epitome of strength and she could move like a dancer when she wanted to. This stranger seemed barely able to walk.

The figure gimped closer and closed the door behind her, the feeble light from the single fluorescent lamp above bleaching her pale skin of its green tones. Her eyes never left the children as she wandered over towards the back wall and gently set down her bundle.

"… food for your hunger… water for your thirst… " The bundle unfolded, a simple bath towel that divulged a varied collection of energy bars and packets of beef jerky, along with a brand of bottled water that the twins knew to be stocked in their own home. The girls looked to the hunched shape and looked up into her face, its countenance looking almost unfinished in the poor light.

"Th… thank you." Kasy had started to speak without thinking, startling her sister as much as she had startled herself. Sheki needed a breath before she could support the unexpected gesture.

"Yes, thank you." The figure straightened a little from its ruined posture and blinked at them; there was no other reaction.

While her eyes seemed to have condensed every single shred of life and color, the rest of her body was almost faded; lips that normally glistened with black gloss were bloodless and the hair that bristled atop the shorn scalp was stark white and chalky. Even the skin carried a tinge that bespoke jaundice rather than the familiar green. The sheet exposed little of the naked flesh but it did nothing to hide the fact that there was little or no meat left on those bones; a slower pace of life and their Mommy's cooking often wreaking havoc on their Momma's weight over the years, but it was never more than a thin layer of softness across rock-hard muscle.

The silent woman was suddenly right in her face.

"Sheki, look out!"

"Ghaa!" Quick for all her apparent infirmity, the figure leaned in fast and extended an open palm towards the face of Sheki, the closest to her, the girl's eyes wide with freight at the advance. Kasy felt the feeble warmth of her failed attempt to emit a plasma field and it was this instinctual reaction that kept her from actually throwing herself between the older woman and her twin.

"… no fear, no fear…"

"What are you… what…?" Sheki went stock-still as the hand touched her neck and a cooling sensation replaced the burning from her wounds. The hand beneath was warm, even if there didn't seem to be an ounce of blood in those fingers, and the touch was as gentle as she ever remembered being handled by her real parents. The pungent scent of something medicinal reached her nose and she calmed a little as the steady hand continued to rub the unguent on her neck.

"Sheki!"

"It's… it's Ok, Kasy. It's medicine or something." The hand withdrew and there was no more pain, the figure sitting back and looking at the girls with all of the attention of a bird of prey. Sheki raised her own hand slowly to poke and prod at her neck, feeling the thick layer of a viscous substance coating her skin. The welts were still there but the burning was gone and she suspected that the deeper pain and the inflammation would disappear soon enough. She looked at her benefactor with a guarded expression.

"Thank you. That feels better." There was no reaction or change of the face or posture to indicate that the gratitude was accepted or even heard, but the woman shifted to better attend to Kasy, who shook slightly under the touch. The little redhead's pain vanished just as fast and she was just as careful in the way that she offered her appreciation.

"Yes, thanks."

After their wounds had been attended to, the woman remained slumped against the wall until the children thought to gather the items of food closer to them and had each taken a few sips from the sealed bottles of drinking water. She kept her gaze locked upon them for a few more moments and then straightened, at least as much as she was able, before backing towards the door and opening it. She withdrew from the room, her parting words little different from the first.

"… sleep, my loves…"

And then she was gone, leaving the girls to slake their thirsts and quench their hunger with the items that had been given to them. Emotionally spent and physically drained, the nourishment prompted their bodies to begin the healing cycle that all those who are worn and weary must endure when faced with hardship, and that cycle includes sleep.

The twins used a little of the water and a corner of the bath towel to wipe their faces and hands clean before using the dry portion of the towel to brush away the grit from their mattress; they hoped that they might be allowed to use a bathroom before too much longer but there was no drama yet in that regard. They huddled against each other and let the numbness of their anxieties lull them to sleep, reflecting privately on their visitor even as they nodded off.

This was not the same woman who trained with them and drilled them in the finer skills of stealth and combat, nor was this the same woman who laughed and played with them or cried with them when they got hurt or shared her old books with them or poured over Sheki's stories or marveled over Kasy's paintings. The girls could not bring themselves to see this woman as being anything like their Momma, and they did not feel even a shadow of affection or affiliation with her. They did feel something for this ruined woman, however, an emotion that they would never have associated with their Momma in a million years.

They felt pity.

88888888

"So let me see if I have this right…" Shego kept her voice low as she traded whispers inside the ventilation shaft. "If they know what we know and we didn't know this air shaft was there then they don't know that we'd use it to get in?"

"Mmm. Pretty much, yeah." Kim shuffled beside her in the gloom, the feeble light from the glow stick barely able to hit the metal walls of the shaft.

"Why did that make so much more sense ten minutes ago?"

The rusted grill had been covered in caked dirt and bushes. They had secured their excess equipment, cracked open the vent and had been crawling through cobwebs and mouse turds for almost seventy twisted yards. Shego had overcome her previous meltdown and was as criminally efficient as always… but there was still some pent up emotion their and Kim kept alert for a repeat. Stress wasn't the sitch; it was because their daughters were in danger that made Shego unpredictable.

"I'll never understand why the Doc always made these things so wide." Shego was able to easily draw up her legs to circumvent a bend in the system, an action that would have been impossible in any other structure in the world.

"Sure, you don't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shego stopped and looked back to see Kim grinning.

"Are you telling me that you didn't have a hand in this design?"

"I'm a little preoccupied here, Pumpkin. Would you care to spell that out for me?"

"You know," Kim shrugged. "To make it easier for me to sneak in."

"Judas Priest, Possible! I had more on my damn plate back then than designing the frelling air vents!" Black hair shifted as she shook her head. "How long did you believe that?"

"… for a long time…" Kim felt embarrassed and was glad that the darkness hid her blush.

"And another thing… and Kimmie, don't take this personally… but up until you had the twins and filled out a little, the last thing that you needed was more room in the air vents." Shego paused as a familiar sensation started to burn at the back of her neck. "And don't bother using 'The Pout' on me because I can't see it and am not in the mood."

Shego cut her sentence short because her tongue felt suddenly thick.

"Yeah… I suppose you're right." Kim signed and retracted her pout; it had been more of a defense reaction to her embarrassment than anything else. "Ron and I usually had enough room to move side by side, so I thought that you might've… might've made them bigger just for me."

"Whatever." The pale green woman's eyes were burning and it wasn't from dust in the shaft. "Now here's the part of the plan where… I've… we've got to… find…"

Oh, shit, I'm going to bawl, thought Shego. She bit he lip until she tasted blood.

Uh, oh… she's going to bawl, thought Kim. The redhead thought fast for some preventative action.

"It would make much more sense to build these wide enough for your fat ass to sneak out. I mean, those thunder thighs of yours are bad enough, but your ass…"

No sooner did the petite hero speak the words than a powerful arm reached back and grabbed the loose waist of her cargo pants. She was quickly dragged forward and brought to rest beside the former villain.

"Damn you, Possible…"

The arm moved again and a strong hand found the back of Kim's head, forcing her into a kiss. Kim felt movement along her chest and down her abdomen as Shego's other hand made its presence known.

"Nggg… hooo, boy… Sh-Shego… not… now… ghaa…!"

"Thank you." The larger women shifted closer to punctuate her gratitude with another quick kiss on the lips.

"Y-y-you're welcome… whoa…" Kim shuddered in the confined space as warmth suffused her entire body. "I'd have settled for just the 'thank you'." The slender redhead heard her wife chuckle and knew that another episode had been avoided for now. "You started to say something about a plan?"

"Yeah, now we really need to be quiet, here." Together they sidled up to a grate in the shaft; this was the final junction before the system joined with the lair proper and their movements, no matter how stealthy, would be clearly audible. "Now you're not going to like this, but I'm going the rest of the way alone."

"Bullsh…" Kim kept talking but Shego's gloved hand had already moved to cover the hero's mouth. She let Kim rant to let her get the muffled arguments out of her system and only lifted the hand away when Kim was still and glowering in silence.

"You finished?"

"Yes."

"Once again, I am going the rest of the way alone. You wait three minutes and then leave the shaft. Don't look for me because I'll be committing acts of chaos to draw out the bad guys." Shego waited until sh saw the spark of comprehension. "In other words…"

"You're the distraction." Kim's tone was one of incredulity.

"Exacta-mundo." The former villain checked her phosphorus grenades. "I'll stir up some shit and see what floats to the surface."

"Ewww."

"Meanwhile, you keep your nose in the air and see if you can pick out a couple of little greenies."

"Enough with the biological function humor." Kim had to smile, just a little.

"Spoilsport."

"And I don't appreciate our babies being compared to boogers, thank you."

"Ain't I something?" Shego swung her long legs around and proceeded to climb down the seams of the airshaft, using the edges like rungs under her strong fingers. "And if it matters… I was the one that told the Doc where to position the surveillance cameras."

"Huh?"

"In the lairs. I had nothing to do with the ventilation system but I made sure that the cameras were always in the worst possible location."

"… ensuring my entry unseen." Kim's tone was soft and loving.

"Yep." Shego only had eyes for the last few yards of ventilation shaft and could not bring herself to look at her mate. She slid closer and prepared to climb down.

"How long did you do that?"

"For a long time."

Shego dropped out of sight without another word.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: Take my word for it, folks… we are definitely NOT on a collision course for wackiness.


	7. Chapter 7

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Seven

"Got it!"

"Booyah!"

Kasy Ann Possible relaxed and rolled backwards away from the door. Her fingers bled and her whole hand was cramped but she'd finally managed to pick the lock. She let the bent sliver of metal she'd found drop to the damp floor and made room for her sister. Sheki held her twin's shoulders and they both grinned like dirty thieves. It had been hours since they had last spoken with their captors and both girls had managed to sleep a little after the gift of food and water from their ghastly visitor. Somewhat refreshed, they weren't about to stay in this dump for a moment longer than necessary.

Sheki reached for the latch.

"Shek, hold up!"

"What?" The raven-haired girl regarded her twin with impatience. "Let's get the hell out of Dodge!"

"Language."

"So not the drama!" She rolled her eyes. "What is it?"

"SO the drama! We don't know what's out there!" Kasy flexed the joints of her sore hand and regarded the closed door. "There might be a whole army out there for all we know."

"Or maybe just… her." They both shivered and it had nothing to do with the cool dampness; they each recalled the madness in the eyes of that woman who looked so much like their mother, and wanted nothing to do with that again anytime soon. "Ok, you could be right."

"Gee, thanks." The redhead stood.

"D'oy! So what do we do now?"

"Well… I don't really think that there is an army." Kasy began to pace, a habit that she had picked up from their Mommy. "I think that it's just the two of them."

"Two against two!"

"We still need to be ultra careful."

"We can take them!"

"Even if it's her?"

Sheki rested her hand on Kasy's shoulder and two pairs of emerald eyes locked.

"Even if. Team Possible can handle anything."

"But she's our…"

"No, she isn't. She's someone else's mother. Someone who's dead." They both remembered their brief adventure with Rufus 3000 and there was no need to review those details. "And they weren't us. Anyway," Sheki gave the redhead a smirk, "you spent all that time picking the lock and now you don't even want to open the door?"

"Kinda dumb, huh?" Kasy was smiling a little now. "Ok, then. We're out of here." She turned and together they stood before the metal barrier. It took all of their stealth training and significant self-control to pull open the door.

The result was somewhat anti-climactic because there wasn't much to see. There were machines in various states of use or disuse, with rubble pushed here and there against the base of support pylons. The impression was of a significantly larger chamber than they could see but the space was shrouded in darkness. Her earlier misgivings subdued, Kasy was the first through the door.

"So… do we look for a communications device first, or just a big door conveniently labeled 'EXIT'?"

"Um." Sheki bent her knees and shifted from foot to foot. "Could we find a bathroom, first?"

"Ok." Kasy nodded. "Bathroom first and then the big door labeled 'EXIT'!"

They left their filthy cell behind them, sticking to the shadows and each praying that they wouldn't encounter the woman that they had once heard order the death of thousands in their Mommy's voice.

88888888

The lair appeared to be in almost exactly same state in which she had left it about ten years ago.

Almost.

Pausing to listen, Shego was confident that more power was flowing through the electrical grid than should be possible for the sole remaining auxiliary generator. There was no way that anyone else but she could have squeezed one more amp of power from that generator. Anyone except her, she admitted smugly. More power, maybe a little cleaner, less rubble strewn about… it was apparent that whoever had staked their claim to this place had been here for days and obviously knew their way around a lair. Shego slipped out of the air vent and was all the more cautious.

Neither time nor tide had dulled Shego's stealth techniques and she traversed the shadowy chamber unmolested, pausing only to plant the occasional phosphorus grenade at particular spots. A pylon here, a stanchion there… all intended to cause maximum chaos but little actual destruction, to confuse their unidentified foes through the art of misdirection. Hunkering down against the base of a support pylon, Shego re-established her bearings and reappraised the condition of the lair.

Two minutes had elapsed, by the account of the chronometer strapped to her upper arm, since she had entered this central chamber and still no sign of the residents. Not a shred of clothing, no empty food containers and nothing so much as a candy wrapper. All the usual marks of human inhabitation were missing. She'd heard no one, seen no one.

Shego turned her head to check the time again.

"Such attention to detail. Remarkable."

Combat training kicked in and Shego fell into a spinning crouch while the voice still echoed between the walls. Only then did the unmistakable nature and tone of the familiar voice reach her cerebellum and Shego growled as she stood, turning to face the new arrival.

"Damn it, Pumpkin, I told you to…"

Further admonitions caught in her throat when she beheld her visitor.

For some inexplicable reason, Kim's mother was standing just a few feet away with her arms crossed and wearing a facsimile of Kim's old blue and white battle suit. A light blue cape rested across her shoulders and the redheaded woman's gaze was cold, almost reptilian.

"Decidedly remarkable. Amazing, in fact."

No, this wasn't Anne Possible. Who was she… and where in the HELL had she come from? Shego was beyond baffled.

"Where… how did…?"

"The attention to detail, that is. That timepiece on your arm, for example." The woman gestured idly at the device just above the green and black uniformed elbow. "It looks exactly like the one I bought for my wife for when we would go out on missions." She slurred the last word with thinly veiled disgust. "Any normal wrist watch simply flashed into greasy soot when she fired up." The lips curled in a half smile. "I suppose that someone wanted the look to be totally accurate." She shifted her weight, cocking her hip. "It's a good thing that Shego isn't here. She doesn't like clones very much."

"I'm no clo…" Shego caught herself, refusing to be distracted. "Who are you? Spill!" A uniformed glove was raised accusingly. "And where are my daughters?"

"What, no 'Oh, Kimmie, it's me'?" Clearly amused, the shorter woman advanced a step. "Aren't you even going to pretend to be Shego?"

"I AM SHEGO, BITC…"

Wait.

Something in the voice, the words, the motion of that slender body. But that couldn't be possible.

Leaner and harder of face, this woman could pass for her Princess. A few more age lines around the mouth and a tight clench to the jaw… Shego's own mouth went slack. Why hadn't she noticed it immediately? Her first impression was of her Mother-In-Law, and with good reason; this other woman was older than Kim and practically radiated authority, hence the mental shift towards Mrs. Dr. P.

"Kim?"

"That's more like it."

Anything's possible for a Possible.

"K-Kimmie?"

"Ooo, I haven't heard that one in a long," the petite woman savored the pause, "long time."

Slowly the differences came into focus.

The redhead looked to be pushing fifty years old, roughly the age of Dr. Anne Possible so the initial confusion was forgivable. The hair was much longer than Kim wore it, fuller and with a few shocks of white to be seen. The eyes should have been the immediate giveaway… they were shaped of fiery emeralds and not the ocean-blue gaze belonging to Anne Possible. At a second glance, several of the 'age lines' Shego had noticed were actually scars and while the newcomer was certainly as slim and petite as her Princess, there was an arrogance about her that made the other woman seem considerably more imposing than her physical stature warranted. There was an unbridled power radiating from this petite woman that could be felt from several feet away.

Shego found her voice.

"Who are you?"

"That is not important."

"Wrong answer, sugarplum."

"My, you are being obtuse."

"Last chance! Who are you?"

"Allow me to reiterate." The imperious tone bade no argument. "That is not important… to you."

"You know, I believe that you're right. Let's move on to our second round of questions." Shego advanced, arms out and talons ready. She flexed her gloved fingers and breathed deep in anticipation of showing this person the true definition of pain. "Girls! Where? Now!"

"Oh, dear. As if I had time for this…"

"NOW!!"

Shego closed the scant distance and her claws reached for the target… but sliced through empty air as the smaller form shifted and eluded the attack. The former villain was prepared for the dodge and spun, her leg extending to knock the feet out from under her mysterious opponent. All this was taking place in the gap between now and now and this time contact was made.

But it wasn't enough. Shego felt her shin connect with the back of the blue and white uniformed knee but, instead of being swept outwards, the redhead folded backwards and flipped, carrying the lithe body out of harm's reach and negating the strafe. She landed casually and straightened as if she had all the time in the world.

The former thief watched the older woman brush concrete dust from her uniform.

"You could make this easier, you know."

"Easier for you?" Shego taunted.

"That's not exactly what I…" The stranger was forced to halt her retort because Shego was already moving. The taller woman leapt and swung, a practiced move calculated to demoralize as well as damage, bringing her fist within a hair's breadth of her opponent's face. The redhead feinted to the side and responded with a kick directed at Shego's solar plexus.

It missed, Shego having used a variant of the redhead's own defensive move from seconds ago. She chose to sustain her offensive rather than flip away out of danger so Shego proceeded to unleash a volley of kicks, punches and roundhouse strikes that made her seem more like a whirling Dervish than anything else. The speed and accuracy of her attacks was in stark contrast to her earlier stealth and she was growling with each breath.

The petite redhead eluded every attack with an expression of patient indulgence. Shego kept moving but pulled back to reevaluate the sitch; she was as furious with herself as she was with her opponent at the failure of making a palpable hit and it was imperative to capitalize on weakness.

IF there was a weakness to be found, that is. If this person can move like my Kimmie, Shego realized, that may be easier said than done. At least I don't have to pull my punches.

Changing strategy, the green and black clad woman lanced outward with a kick powerful enough to break bones. The smaller woman moved equally fast and avoided shattered ribs with a raised arm; the arm moved to divert and redirect the passage of the leg, possibly to unbalance Shego after the failed blow. The taller woman felt a dangerous strength in that block so she retracted her leg and braced herself. Her next move was a mid-feint to the right and then a jab from the left. This was immediately followed by another kick that was nothing more than a distraction whether it connected or not. Without even waiting to weigh the success or her actions, Shego brought up her balled fists and threw jabs that could have impressed any prizefighter.

To say that none of the attacks made contact would be untrue… but none succeeded in doing any damage. The petite woman in the blue and white uniform managed to block or dodge them all without saying a word or even changing her expression, and she only launched a fraction of the attacks that Shego did. The stranger apparently preferred to maintain her steady defense.

It was when the stranger brought up her guard that Shego noticed the other woman's right hand.

Whereas the left hand was simply gloved, the right was encased in an articulated metal gauntlet that ended just beyond the wrist; each digit was barbed and carried talons that looked every bit as sharp as Shego's own. It had been the glint of light on the metal limb that had caught Shego's attention and the distraction almost made her the recipient of a devastating punch… nonetheless, she made note of the gauntlet in case it proved to be important.

There was no time to rest because another punch immediately followed the last one and it took all of Shego's skill to evade it and still retaliate with a countermove of her own. The open-handed strike had missed the fair cheekbone by millimeters but the former villain was gratified to see the redhead's expression shift from aloof to alert. Shego smirked to broadcast that she had noticed the change but otherwise she remained silent. Instead, she opted to roll into a crouch and risk a brief moment of introspection. She was gratified that her fighting abilities hadn't deteriorated over the years. She rarely needed to make use of her fighting skills these days and, while she had once been ranked as THE most dangerous woman on the planet, it now took a disciplined regimen of exercise to keep in fighting trim. The fighting wasn't nearly as lethal now that she joined her spouse on missions for Global Justice.

She couldn't let herself go anymore and surrender to the sweet pleasure of hand-to-hand combat like she could in the old days with her Princess. Back then she could howl her rage to the sky and cut loose with abandon, never having to fear that 'the girl who could do anything' might not be up to the challenge. Kim Possible always gave as well as she got even when a little plasma was forthcoming, and was nothing less than Shego's equal.

Was it possible that her angel sometimes shared that unholy joy?

But Shego did hold back, even though she denied it even to herself. It was when she started looking forward to the battles for a different reason that she realized she couldn't bear to think about her Kimmie being seriously hurt. Those days were a surreal period in her life because there was absolutely nothing that could ever have come from this change in attitude. And then Drakken had his 'brilliant' plan involving the DNA retrovirus and the smallest of possibilities came to pass. The rest was history.

But here was a total stranger on whom Shego could unload her inner hate. The redhead was breathing a little harder by now and Shego wondered if a snarky comment was in order.

"Are you are member in good standing with 'Lair Care', or what?"

The slender woman kept her guard up but did not reply.

"Hate to tell you this, but I know someone who'll be mighty pissed off to know that you've stolen her look."

The only reaction was a subtle narrowing of those emerald eyes as they circled around and around.

"You know, she-bitch… may I call you 'she-bitch'?" Shego smirked and calculated when she might best renew her attack. "I'd thought I'd seen an ass scrawnier than yours before, but I was wrong."

The other woman stopped circling. Shego raised her left arm and gestured at the slender woman's backside, also subtly drawing her right arm back and flexed the talons built into her gloved fist.

"But I've gotta say that you have THE scrawniest ass that…"

The smaller woman leapt and the taller woman lashed out. The air snapped at their passing.

Time, direction and velocity were judged all in a split second and the blue-white blur landed a few feet behind Shego, landed and stumbled because the calculation was just right and red blood flowed from a gash cut into the woman's upper back. The stranger didn't lose her footing completely but the pain she felt was evident in the way she stood.

Shego grinned at the victory and started to turn fully around to face her foe… when a hot needle of pain bored into her upper arm. Wincing, she looked down and saw a rent in her sleeve and rivulets of blood seeping out onto her pale green skin. She had felt her own claws connect with the leaping form but hadn't felt the successful blow to her own arm; her opponent had struck too fast and the talons of that metal glove must be like knives. Shego bared her teeth and glared across at the other woman in time to see the ribbons bordering the ragged hole in the smaller woman's uniform writhe and knit together, erasing the damage and covering the wound beneath. Likewise, the bleeding of Shego's wound slowed and stopped altogether, the flesh already starting to heal itself even if her uniform remained compromised.

So the battlesuit's the real deal, hm? Good… one more reason not to restrain myself. Her breathing slowed and she relaxed her control over the ever-present 'humming' that suffused her bones. Her flesh tingled as twin fields of super-heated plasma leached out through her conductive talons to encase her hands.

Shego charged, her hands ablaze with green death.

"This ends now, she-bitch." It had long been tested and documented that her power could melt steel and pulverize granite; even without the benefit of the extreme heat, the fields increased the concussive strength of her blows a hundredfold. She could taste the victory and almost felt sorry as her claws came down…

… and her plasma sizzled and died against a brilliant blue sphere of energy that flashed into being around the slender woman. Shego rocked back on her heels, almost unable to comprehend. As if forgetting the urgency of her sitch, she reached out and prodded the sphere, watching the sparks flair under her hand.

"Oh, no you didn't!"

Shego struck again, the only result being more fireworks and a crackling energy discharge.

"BullSHIT!"

More power was generated and she blasted the field again and again and again.

Still the blue sphere held firm.

"NO!" Anger erupted without conscious thought and her arms became a black and green blur. Shego dropped all pretense of tactics or strategy and planted her feet directly in front of the energy field as if she were a lumberjack, raining blow after blow down upon the blue barrier. Each strike sent a shockwave through the concrete floor and split the air with a peel of thunder. Pieces of rubble danced and bounced across the floor of the chamber and were occasionally joined by more pieces falling from the ceiling.

Regardless of its nature, each attack resulted in little more that pretty fireworks that scintillated against the immaterial blue wall. The woman inside the field even relaxed her pose a little as each attack failed, be it a short-lived plasma 'grenade' or a simple, undignified fist pounded against the barrier.

"NO! BITCH! DIE, YOU… DIE, BITCH!!" Shego didn't relent. She couldn't relent. Hammering against the force field with both hands now, she was physically and mentally incapable of ceasing her attack. The bravado and taunts had served to briefly hold back the fear she felt for her daughters' safety and, now that she found herself faltering, something within her snapped.

But brute force wasn't enough and Shego was also losing strength. She had been expending too much energy too fast and her fields were already on the verge of winking out. If she didn't get to rest soon… but there would be no chance of that now. Instead, the former villain began to emit the highest level of plasma radiation that she was capable of without injuring herself. The air around her hands seemed to boil and nearby light fixtures flickered slightly and her gloves had already started to vaporize.

She unleashed a barrage of energy against the blue sphere in every form that she could generate, even a cascade of 'sheet lightening' that she rarely used because it was difficult to focus and aim. Any one of these strikes would have been powerful enough to buckle titanium and not even her inherent immunity to her own plasma would prevent her from roasting if the air around her skin didn't shed the heat fast enough.

"Are you finished?" The redhead inside the blue energy field crossed her arms and stared out with something akin to pity. This volatile exchange lasted until Shego felt her knees trembling. Her energies were finite, she knew, and they had all but run out. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm on something of a schedule."

The former villain heard the question but chose not to respond. She let her plasma fade and backed off instead to conserve her waning energies and rethink the sitch. Her Princess would've been proud to see that Shego wasn't so bullheaded that she couldn't use guile. This stranger was faster than she should be and far too strong for her size and the battle suit was obviously not some dime store knock off. Shego needed time to think, to plan… and to recharge.

"It's just that I seem to have zoned out for a bit." The blue and white clad woman looked out at Shego from within the force field and there was a bemused expression on her face. "If I missed anything worthwhile, I do beg your pardon."

"Ok." Shego dropped her battle stance and faced her opponent. "I accept that the battle suit is the real McCoy and that you know how to fight. I don't know what your game is but I want..."

"What you want… does not concern me." The blue force field did nothing to muffle the contemptuous tone. "I had hoped that our game would be more than an idle distraction but I see now that to continue would be pointless." She actually paused to brush her uniform free of non-existent grime. "Enough time has been wasted. Now that we have what we came for we will be departing this world for greener pastures."

"Who's 'we'?" Shego mustered her strength and walked right up to the field and held her glowing hands against its transparent surface. The petite woman inside the field ruffled the folds of her blue cape and didn't react to the proximity or to the question.

"… but I am not without some mercy, even towards a clone." The redhead shifted her full attention to her opponent. "Especially since a quick death for you means that I can fulfill my plan that much faster. Sort of a win-win scenario."

"For the last time, she-bitch… me Shego, YOU clone!" She kept her hands against the force field and radiated the lowest level of plasma emission that she could without taxing her resources. What she needed a healthy dose of natural sunshine to keep her energies topped off but there was no way that she'd get one anytime soon. The field remained steady under her hands as the stranger continued speaking.

"As I was saying, I realize now that whatever programming you were given by my enemies compels you to believe that you are seeking your children…"

"They are my girls, bitch! MINE!"

"… so I will kill you quickly out of compassion." The word seemed unfamiliar to the mouth that spoke it. "Whether you are capable of accepting it or not, the 'girls' of which you speak are not your daughters. They are my daughters and…" The redhead frowned. "Why am I bothering to argue the matter with you?"

"My honest face and your assumption that I give a shit?"

Shego never would be able to totally remember exactly what happened next.

The force field vanished so suddenly that the pale green woman stumbled forward and Shego found herself practically nose to nose with the smaller woman. She raised her hands, intending to arrest her fall more than anything else. As her right hand came up, the metal hand of her opponent flew up and locked the shredded glove in a crushing grip; the redhead might be smaller, but the strength in that strangely gauntleted hand could not be denied.

The former thief was trapped… or maybe not! Shego gave the redhead a shark's smile and let her right hand erupt in a plasma field.

"Welcome to the briar patch, you little whor…"

The shining metallic hand glowed with it's own plasma field and Shego felt pain like she never had before.

All thought was ripped from her brain in a blinding agony that coursed down the flesh of her arm and burned deep into her core. For one of the rare times in Shego's turbulent life, she screamed... screamed with pain, with fear and with the burning knowledge of failure. With perfect form, the petite redhead swiftly spun and pulled, wrenching Shego clean off her feet with every bit of power that the blue and white battle suit contained.

The tall woman flew across the darkened chamber, flew several yards to crash against a roughly hewn rock wall and landed in a black and green tangle, wisps of smoke rising from charred skin and smoldering uniform, gathering in an oily haze above the spot where she lay. The dim lights overhead were blinding to her and Shego could barely tell the difference between up and down as she fought just to keep breathing.

Her next sensation was the staccato steps of booted feet drawing closer. The small woman's gait was casual and it gave the impression that she had nothing but time on her hands. Shego managed to blink and cough but wasn't strong enough to move.

The battered woman had to force out her words.

"…who…"

"Goodness, you are persistent."

"…who…"

"Persistent and repetitive." The tone was almost accommodating. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you." The small shape lowered and she knelt down over the vanquished woman and it was all that Shego could do to focus her eyes on the black silhouette. The metal hand started to glow again as the segmented digits condensed into a fist and slowly drew back.

Shego waited for the inevitable impact that would surely drive all consciousness from her mind.

"I… am the Supreme One."

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: This chapter is a bit longer one because it's mostly one solid action sequence; it is the first REAL big fight scene I've ever written. I did my best to make it as literarily compelling as possible, and to include as many visual cues as I could. If you leave only one review for anything I ever write, please let me know what you thought.


	8. Chapter 8

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Eight

She just knew that something was wrong. Kim Possible wiped soot and cobwebs from her face with the back of her gloved hand and gazed out from the shadows.

She'd been following Shego's plan to the letter, silently roving along the periphery of the lair, seeing and being unseen, searching for clues of their daughters' whereabouts. Then all Hell broke loose a few minutes ago.

Yep, something's wrong.

Nuts.

A veritable thunderstorm seemed to unfold from somewhere deep in the hidden complex; explosions of light and sound rattled her eardrums and shook the floor with an intensity that rivaled Las Vegas. The green flashes and glaring afterimages were too much like Shego's plasma effects for comfort… but then it had all become quiet as the grave. Now it took a great strength of will for 'the woman who could do anything' to stay hunkered down with her back against a rusting girder and patiently contemplate her next move.

She wanted to act… now! Waiting impatiently at the ventilation duct had left a bad taste in her mouth. She kept reminding herself that she DID trust Shego's plan and WOULD do as she'd been instructed. Kim was prepared to sit tight and be as quiet as a mouse for as long as need be. Who cared what those snooty 'ninjas' at Yamanouchi might think, she was proud of her stealth techniques would rather have joined her mate on the initial foray into danger. She had no trouble admitting that she had learned much about hiding and infiltration skills from her former enemy, or that those newfound skills had since saved her life on occasion.

Having recalled the ninja training school, Kim caught herself wondering how Yori had fared after all these years. Was the beautiful and deadly martial artist now a full ninja or was she a teacher at the training academy… or had she taken a vow of marriage and had a whole parcel of kids?

Even in this filthy hole, Kim actually managed to grin at the thought. Yori's fate didn't matter to her, at least not since she moved out of the life of her best friend… and now that Ron had found a loving wife in the shape of Bonnie Rockwaller. The redhead had no reasons to dwell on that particular slice of the past at all. She shook her head violently and clenched her fists. I'm woolgathering, she thought. Here I am, nestled in a nasty corner of an abandoned Drakken lair and I've got my head up my ass! Back to the sitch!

The 'sitch' had gone south of cheese. There was no denying that she should have heard the detonation of Shego's grenades by now! Other than the apparent sound of battle from before, she had heard and seen nothing and no one. Had it been Shego? Did she win?

Where are our children?

Screw this. It was time to get moving.

There were several sidereal chambers and rooms that split off from this main cavern, she remembered, and each one could be where her family was being held. Her mysterious enemies could be there, too, and that was a sitch to be dealt with in good time. With one last look around to get her bearings, Kim stretched and flexed her stiff back muscles, slowly rose into a standing position… and froze.

Something had moved between two of the towering pieces of damaged equipment.

Avoiding any jerky movement, Kim carefully rolled around the girder and put it between her and whatever it was that was on the prowl. If it kept moving… whatever it was… it would come into her line of sight after a few more feet. If she moved to a vantage point where she could see who it was, they in turn would see her. Kim wasted only a second in deciding to remain where she was, oddly comforted that she was so small and slender.

The hero held her breath and listened.

There was a padding sound, like feet were walking just beyond her hiding place. The tempo was casual, so she guessed that the stranger wasn't in a hurry. It was quiet, too… barefoot, maybe? There was a rustling noise; it was like fabric against a dry surface and it was then that she drew into her nose a sickly sweet musk. The pungent smell was like some unearthly blend of body odor, dried blood and something vaguely reminiscent of a sickroom. It was that scent that alarmed her more than anything else and in a way that she couldn't fully explain. Kim was more than capable of stifling her curiosity but she had to know what she was dealing with.

She glanced around the girder… and almost lost her breakfast. She pulled her head back out of sight because in three seconds, Kim had managed to see enough to fuel a dozen nightmares.

A shambling wreck wrapped in a dirty sheet or cloak… it might have been female… was limping down the path that Kim had taken a few minutes ago. Kim's heart pounded within her chest at the horrible sight but she forced herself to relax and process the tableau that her hurried glance had afforded her.

The 'woman' was rail thin and bore a coloration that reminded her of Shego, but otherwise there was little resemblance because the hint of pale green was distressingly faded and waxy. This person had almost no hair and what few bristles remained were bone white, totally unlike Shego's flowing black tresses. Another unsettling difference was that this creature showed obvious signs of injuries, some of them recent and unhealed.

That settled it; absolutely nothing like Shego! Her spouse was able to fully heal from most superficial wounds in a day, broken bones taking less than two weeks to knit together. This person looked as if she had just left a traffic accident. Risking another glance around the girder, Kim watched the woman stumble further along the corridor of machines. At no time did the shrouded figure pause in her mysterious task and Kim didn't relax until the battered shape was finally out of her line of sight, taking the unpleasant smell of sickness with her.

Now for the ultimate question… which was more important, the direction this wanderer had come from or the one in which she was headed? And what had she been doing? The woman had been carrying something, a small bundle maybe, and had been using her makeshift covering to form a simple pouch for her load. It was how the hem of the sheet had been gathered up from the floor that had contributed to Kim's view of this newcomer's disturbing physique.

Every second counted but Kim stayed rooted to the spot for a few more moments. Thinking of her family in the clutches of something as awful as the creature she had just seen was enough to steel her nerves. The redhead aimed her emerald eyes in the direction from whence the creeping ghost woman had come and got moving.

88888888

Two grimy and dusty children crept out of the rough-hewn tunnel. Kasy's expression was one of sheer disgust and her sister's was no more favorable. The raven-haired teen joined her red-haired twin and they hissed at each other in harsh whispers.

"that was sick"

"sick and wrong"

Sheki nodded.

"wrongsick…that was THE worst bathroom I've ever seen"

"don't forget, it's a lair"

"ex-lair"

"more like 'ex-lax'"

"worse than that place in Moorefield, West Virginia?"

"ooooh, yeah"

"ewwwww"

"do you want to…?" Sheki couldn't bring herself to finish the question, opting to cock her thumb back over her shoulder into the dark and nasty restroom.

"not if it's as bad as you say, heck no," the redhead protested. "I'll hold it 'til we get home"

The discussion served little purpose than to distract them from the dire circumstances they were currently facing, and the effect faded quickly. They grew silent and gave their surroundings a quick survey before continuing through the ruined chamber.

Alternating so as to remain alert, Kasy kept her eyes up and forward while Sheki watched to the sides and rear… how could there be so many twists and turns for a place that basically one big room? Other than the disgusting but much needed rest stop, they were no closer to escaping than they were a half hour ago. There weren't any central walls but there were plenty of computer banks, both whole and trashed, to create a labyrinth the likes of which King Minos would have envied. At least the machinery made hiding easier while they searched for that elusive exit. The nooks and crannies were a double-edged sword, however, because this also meant there were more spots for enemies to skulk in and too many blind alleys to trap them. Their biggest danger was fear; if they didn't manage to keep their wits, they would both be apt to crawl into a hole and hide. If only they could locate a communications device… anything that would let them call home and let their folks know where they were.

They paused after a few more minutes of travel, stopping to nestle down between two huge and cracked vacuum tubes, to reappraise their sitch.

"this is crazy… we've been moving in the same direction and getting nowhere"

"we made a turn aways back"

"huh?"

"yeah, remember?"

"no we didn't"

"did"

"did not"

"well… we should've reached a wall by now"

"or that big door you wanted marked 'exit'"

"hey, I'm not the one who had to take a leak"

"well I'm not the one who can't tell a straight line from a turn"

"turd"

"dingleberry"

"Buttmunch!"

"Dickweed!"

Only when the echoes of their growing volume reached their ears did the girls remember where they were, and that announcing their location but them in dire jeopardy. They hurriedly looked around the crevasse where they lay hidden, desperate to avoid detection by their captors, and pulled each other tight together in a huddle such as they'd not created since they were small children having awakened from a nightmare.

The nightclothes that they were still wearing reinforced the imagery.

"see anything?"

"no… sorry" Sheki held her sister close and the beating of their hearts kept a sympathetic rhythm. More so than their uncles Jim and Tim or Weldon and Welford, they had always shared a deep bond that had formed in the womb and was every bit as strong today. Kasy waited until their breathing was equally timed before responding.

"me too"

"how long have we been here?"

"coupla hours, I s'pose"

"ya think mom and momma've noticed we're gone"

"we're supposed to be at cheerleading, so I dunno"

Kasy lifted her head slightly; she could see no one in the gloom.

"wanna keep moving"

"got to… it's the only way"

They waited a few more seconds and touched heads, an unspoken agreement that gave them the initiative needed to slowly crawl up from the crumbling hole in the cement floor. Matching sets of anxious emeralds peered into every shadow and corner, eager to find the way out while doing anything to not face the evil that wore their mothers' faces and spoke in their voices.

They saw nothing.

"wanna make a run for it?"

"what?!"

"yeah… I say we make like a library and book"

"she'll…" Sheki shivered. "someone will hear us!"

"no way, not if we're fast"

"I dunno…"

"come on, sis" Kasi said, glancing around. "we are totally off their radar"

"well… if you're sure"

"hey… nothing to it but to do it"

Sheki took a few deep, steady breaths and pursed her lips.

"ok"

"ok?"

"yep… on the count of three?"

Kasy crouched like a sprinter, ready to fly. Sheki did the same.

"… one…"

"hicka bicka boo"

"… two…"

"hoosha"

"… three…"

A pair of dirty gloves clamped around their mouths so suddenly that they couldn't even scream.

88888888

"Where is your partner?"

"Blow me."

"I will not accept that you came here alone, so why do you insist on annoying me?" The middle-aged redhead leaned casually against the damp wall of the storage room and rolled her eyes in bemused exasperation. "And for the clone of…"

"FOR THE LAST FRIGGING TIME, I AIN'T NO CLONE!"

"… of someone who was never without a jibe or riposte, your vernacular is a little sparse."

"And for the clone of someone whose education couldn't help but be hindered by Stoppable's 'drag factor' you have an awfully good vocabulary. My Kimmie would never say 'vernacular'."

Shego kicked herself mentally at her lame attempt at sarcasm; it really had been the best she could think of at the moment. She was caught, plain and simple, and the chains that bound her were something beyond her experience. Time and inactivity had brought a slight recharge to her system and she made no pretense of hiding her attempts to melt or weaken her bindings; the green glow sparkled through the links and her captor watched with interest.

"I read a lot." A slender arm gestured at the recumbent form. "If it's any consolation, I'm having second thoughts about you being a clone. You've already healed from our initial introduction." There was the barest hint of a smile. "Far better than any artificially grown organism. It's too bad that I won't have time to give you a full examination… one piece at a time." The slender form looked down at Shego in a way that made the former villain want to avert her eyes. Now Shego did look away, if only on the pretense of checking her restraints. The length of chain had been forged or chiseled from a metal she could not recognize and the links were wrapped around her wrists and ankles so tightly that she could not move at all. She remained calm and refused to let fear take over; she knew that she would escape, either on her own or once her Princess showed up, but she would be free.

And then her only problem would be how best to clean this bitch's remains from her uniform.

"You can't burn through those chains, you know." Kim's voice, but with far too much maturity. "Then again, how could you know? Would you like me to tell you about them?" Her petite hand pointed to the links. "They're a creation of Global Justice." She spat out the name. "The material is some sort of metalloid that even you can't melt… and you certainly don't have the strength to break them or the leverage to worm free."

"You don't seem like the artsy-craftsy type." Shego didn't really expect much of a reaction and wasn't disappointed; the redhead merely shrugged.

"The metal breaks down when exposed to a very specific sonic frequency but otherwise nothing can damage it. It was mothballed from an old design intended to capture Shego." She paused thoughtfully. "My Shego, the real Shego."

"What do you mean, 'your' Shego?"

"Ah, the impetuousness of youth!" The idleness disappeared and the imperiousness returned. "Are you so eager to break free and beat me to a pulp that you're being intentionally dense, or is it congenital?" The smaller woman crossed her arms. "This is exactly the reason that I know there is another clone out there, some simulacrum of myself that followed you, running around loose. I sent Shego… my Shego… out to look for her and also to undo any damage that you might have perpetrated before I caught you."

"Well, I didn't see her out there." Shego cocked her chin… the only part of her that she could move… towards the door to her little cell. "Does she have a nice ass?"

"Excuse me?"

"Her ass. If someone's going to go to the trouble of cloning me, they'd better get the ass right."

The older woman in blue and white gently massaged her temple with her gloved hand.

"All this talk of who is a clone and who isn't…"

"And the boobs. They'd better have a nice heft."

"… is giving me a headache. It really doesn't matter how you came into being." She moved closer and the weird, metallic hand flexed its joins. "Have you changed your mine about telling me where she is?"

Shego wanted to cringe and pull away from that hand but that was impossible. She was now convinced that what she had originally thought was a gauntlet was in fact a fully functioning hand, albeit a cybernetic prosthesis bonded to the other woman's arm. She had felt the unholy strength of that limb and remembered all too clearly the power of the plasma field it could generate.

She was given a respite when a noise from the other side of the door redirected their attention that way. Rusted hinges squealed and creaked as the door was slowly opened, but it was too dark to see anyone. There was a faint shuffling that made the bound woman feel uneasy, but that was nothing compared to the sickly sweet odor that assaulted her nostrils.

"… the holy being of The Supreme One guides us all towards salvation…"

The older Kim Possible sighed and rolled her eyes with a long-suffering expression.

"Speak of the Devil. Since you haven't met my wife yet, I believe that introductions are in order." She stood and moved aside while a travesty of the human form limped into view.

"Please allow me to introduce my better half."

The light sufficient for Shego to see the ruined and wasted flesh and the jaundiced skin that was rife with festering wounds. She noticed the mangled limbs and the head that tilted at a disquieting angle, the white hair shorn down to the scalp and the soiled white shroud that served as the only covering for the otherwise naked form. It was all there for Shego to see and, repulsed as she was, she was far worse for having recognized her own face among those ravaged features.

The Supreme One spoke to the newcomer lovingly.

"Success, baby?"

"… success can only be found in death…" The shroud unfolded and several objects fell free to clatter on the damp cement floor. Shego recognized them all too well; they were the phosphorus grenades that she had placed around the lair. The timers on the grenades were melted beyond repair and this made the petite woman in blue and white nod with obvious satisfaction.

"Excellent. You haven't lost your touch."

"… thank you, pumpkin…"

"Did you see to the girls?"

"… they rest…"

"And the device?"

"… powering up…"

"Excellent!" The redhead clenched her fists and flashed a shark's smile. "I do hope that I don't sound too melodramatic when I point out that everything is going according to plan!"

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: There really was an urgent rest stop made one time at an unnamed McRestaurant in Moorefield, WV… it was totally disgusting.


	9. Chapter 9

Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.

Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.

Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my 'Who's Writing This Crap?' storyline. It is a sequel to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes' and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Nine

Breath clogged in their throats and terror gripped them like iron. The green eyes and the red hair of their captor was mere inches from their faces and the rosy pink skin was flushed with emotion.

And then they glimpsed the soul behind those eyes.

"mom!"

"mommy!"

"what am I going to do with you two?" Kim hissed back at them, whispering furiously. "if this is what cheerleader try-outs have come to, I'll… I'll…" The young woman abandoned any pretense of forced levity and dragged her daughters closer. She was already clutching them to her with all of her considerable strength but managed to find just a little more pull from somewhere deep within her core. Breathing was difficult but the twins never thought to fight against the crushing hold. Kim eventually relaxed and the girls drew in a few labored gasps.

"three guesses what I want to know… the first two don't count"

"the sitch?"

"good guess" Kim looked them over; both girls looked rumpled and in need of a good soak but otherwise not the worse for wear. "let's narrow it down to 'what are we up against' for now."

The girls shared a look.

"it's kinda complicated"

"keep it simple"

"it's gonna take awhile"

"keep it short" The older Possible placed her hands on the girls' shoulders and squeezed firmly but lovingly. "we don't have the time for 'war and peace' young ladies… I can get us out of here but you have to tell me who these people are and how they can know everything I know"

"you… you know about them?"

"no, but it was a… clue of sorts that your momma and I got this morning"

"got from who?"

"uh-uh, no way do we have time for me to try and explain that one"

"but…"

"no buts, one sitch at a time" She pointed at her red-headed daughter. "how many are there?"

"two"

"two?"

"uh-huh"

"just two?"

"yup"

"as in three minus one equals two?"

"yup" Kasy nodded her confirmation. Kim looked at her child quizzically for a moment before turning to her other daughter.

"not two dozen?"

"nope"

"ok" Kim digested that. "I've seen one of them… all thin and creepy… who is that?"

"mom, you need to understand…"

"sheki, we don't have the time"

"but you really need to listen"

"young lady, I'll be happy to sit down and listen when the sitch is over, but right now you had better tell me who that was I saw lurching around in here a few minutes ago" There was absolutely no time for waffling and Kim's patience was about spent; why were the girls being so vague? Sheki hesitated and it was Kasy who spoke up.

"that was momma"

"Oh, God! Shego!" The news hit Kim like an express train. In that moment of sickening horror, Kim forgot to keep her voice down. The girls were quick to move in closer, desperate to squelch her volume as to provide clarification and assurance. The hero saw something their expressions that meant there was more to the story so she forced herself to calm down… for the moment.

"god… what did they do to her?"

"no! no, that's what we're trying to tell you, it…"

"… isn't really momma"

"guys"

"well, she is and she isn't"

"guys"

"mostly isn't"

"guys"

"at least not anymore"

"guys"

"mom, it's like this…"

"hey, if I don't have time to explain, then you don't"

One set of emerald eyes flared.

"guys…who!?"

The twins sighed.

"they're you"

"they're… who?"

"they're future versions of you and…"

"… momma, our 'rents from an…"

"… alternate timeline"

Kim hesitated only a moment before she reached out and took their hands.

"girls… are you on drugs?"

"mom!!"

"I know that your momma experimented a little when she was your age, but really…"

"no! well…" Kasy rubbed at her neck, "they did shoot us up with something last night… but that's not the point!"

"then how do you know so much about these… people?"

"mom, you have to trust us" Sheki clenched and unclenched her fists in agitation; there was way too much to say and so little time. "they're you and momma but they're crazy and…"

"… sick and…"

"… wrong and…"

"… wrongsick…"

"… and we've seen them before"

"when??"

"weeks ago, that sitch when your hand got stabbed and we…"

"… were being jerks about our powers, and…"

"…we made a pact with momma 'cause we'd been bugging about not getting to go with on missions"

Kim glanced down at her right hand. There wasn't even a scar to mark that particular sitch but she recalled the mission clearly. She also recalled her feeling that the girls never had quite explained to her satisfaction how they had come across an ointment capable of healing her wounded hand in a matter of seconds; the flesh had almost knitted back together before her very eyes.

She would have to get the rest of the story when this was all over… and also remember to ask about this 'pact'. She regarded the twins with a healthy dose of suspicion.

"you two had your own little adventure while we were out that night, didn't you?"

They nodded. Kasy's brow furrowed, realization suddenly dawning.

"and I think… I think that I saw the other-momma outside my window last night"

"really? Then why didn't you… oh!" Her eyes went wide. "the thing on the lawn?"

"yeah, the thing on the lawn"

"then somewhere around here there's another… me?"

The girls could only nod in assent. How could they compare this woman whom they loved with a tyrant who could order the deaths of millions as casually as asking for the correct time? Kim didn't feel her mouth swing open but she hadn't noticed that it was already hanging a bit slack, either. They had been through much in the last ten hours or so and Kim herself had heard many improbable things in her lifetime… but this?

"mom, we know that this all sounds crazy, but…"

"… every word is true"

"I… I believe you" Kim shrugged and looked down. "I have to… my girls are good girls and they don't tell lies" She had been holding on to them the entire time, her small strong hands gently kneading their shoulders as she spoke. They were dirty and bedraggled, obviously exhausted but there was no sign of duplicity or delusion. The girls gained as much reassurance from this simple contact as their mother but Kim held on for several seconds before raising her eyes and pursing her lips in determination; the next part was going to be extremely difficult for her. She gritted her teeth before continuing.

"girls, I need you to listed to me very carefully"

"mom, please don't send us away!"

"we can help!"

"guys"

"yeah, we can help…"

"… you find momma so…"

"guys"

"… that we can all…"

"… get out of here…"

"guys!"

"… together!" The twins' distress was palpable. "please let us help with the mission!"

"guys… judas priest… if you will both shush, that's what I'm trying to tell you!"

The girls could not believe their ears and fought to keep their voices low.

"really?"

"you mean it?"

"yes… but your momma's gonna kill me for this" The older woman pointed up at the ceiling far above their heads, almost hidden in the gloom. "do you see that large conduit… the one that goes off in that direction?"

"uh-huh"

"sure"

"good… it runs the length of the whole place and at that end," she jabbed her gloved finger over their shoulders, "you'll find the main hatchway leading out" She looked for comprehension. "understand?"

They nodded in unison.

"yes, ma'am"

"if I remember correctly, there are several storage rooms along that wall" Kim gestured towards the way out. "the mission is simple… find your momma, free her if you can, drag her out if you must, but I want the three of you to hightail it out of here while I create a distraction." She smirked. "that was your momma's original plan"

"how do you know that she's been captured?"

"because if she hadn't, this place would be in far worse condition than it is right now"

"how do we… how do we know she's not…" The question wasn't completed and tears played at the corners of the twins' eyes. Kim didn't hesitate to confront their fear.

"she's fine, I can feel it" The older redhead refused to consider any other sitch. "but I expect that she's being held in one of those rooms and that, Team Possible, is your mission"

"what are you gonna do?"

"finish what your momma started… make enough noise and see what crawls out"

"mom, that's not a good idea!"

"you don't know these people!"

"you don't know… her" The look in their eyes was almost enough to give Kim pause. Almost.

"apparently I do" Kim remembered the call from that morning and what the mysterious stranger had told then in their kitchen at home. "but the mission is a basic cut and run, got it?"

"right"

"we know"

"you three scoot and I'll be right behind you"

They didn't answer, but the girls breathed easier and some of the tension melted away from their faces.

"hey, don't worry… you're old mother isn't looking to tackle them single-handed"

"kay"

"so cheer up" Kim gave them her brightest smile. "besides, I can do anything"

"so not…" Sheki started.

"… the drama" Kasy finished. There was a bit of the usual sparkle back in their expressions. Kim leaned in and hugged them tight, almost crushing them all over again before resting back on her haunches.

"we good?"

"yes, mom"

"we're good"

"my angels"

"we'll find momma"

"we'll make you proud"

Kim made a half turn so that they wouldn't see her own eyes start to glisten with emotion.

"too late… you already have"

Both girls watched as their mother quickly vanished into the murky shadows. Sheki made ready to leave but her sister was squirming in apparent discomfort.

"hey"

"what?"

"what's the sitch?"

"you were right"

"about?"

The redhead grimaced with disgust.

"I should'a hit the bathroom earlier"

"huh? Oh… ewwww!"

"yeah" The crimson blush burned through Kasy's algae green hue. "mom scared the piss out of me"

88888888

Shit, that is one fugly woman, thought Shego. The former villain was not about to succumb to an identity crisis in the company of this warped and broken person. Forcing herself to remain calm and in control, the pale green woman spoke.

"Are… Are the girls ok?"

The tilting head swiveled and Shego's own eyes burned across fifteen years of pain and anguish.

"… fed, watered, resting… wounds cleansed and…"

"Wounds?"

The only answer given was a single gnarled hand extending from the shroud to display the tiny hypodermic needles mounted onto the ends of the fingertips.

"ENOUGH!" Both Shegos jumped as the commanding voice of The Supreme One roared out at them and the petite redhead raised her fists in fury. "I did NOT give you permission to speak with the prisoner! Go!" A blue and white sleeve thrust towards the open doorway. "Go and prepare the girls for our journey. We'll be leaving here as soon as the device is ready!"

"… thy will be done…" The damaged form bowed as best she was able but did not leave to fulfill her orders. The Supreme One cocked an eye and frowned.

"Well?"

No answer, just a raw, beseeching look.

"Oh… ok." The older Kim huffed in frustration and looked askance down at Shego on the floor. "Excuse me, will you? This won't take but a second." Turning away from Shego, the older Kim Possible balled her flesh and blood hand into a fist and swung. She struck the crippled woman with a backhanded blow that almost knocked her off her feet but the action had been as casual as if swatting a fly.

"Happy?"

"… please and thank you, Supreme One…" The ruined Shego managed to look almost exultant as she lurched out of the room, a crimson smear coloring her lips.

It was a moment before Shego could speak.

"S-She… she likes it rough, does she?"

"I'd have thought that was obvious." The lecherous sneer made Shego blanch slightly.

The former villain had no idea how that ruined woman out there had come to be that way but she was having serious doubts as to her captors being clones. The obvious signs of chronic injury and years of crippling mistreatment gave support to the ghastly creature having some sort of supernormal healing ability; only that could have allowed someone so badly damaged to live with such injuries.

"She occasionally forgets just how rough she likes it. She used to try to get away from me while I was… loving her." The way that the artificial hand was flexing made the chained woman shudder again. "Eventually she stopped trying."

"What's that shit she has in those needles?"

"Don't trouble yourself thinking about it."

"Oh, come on. Tell me. You know you want to. Some kind of poison?"

"So not the drama. Would I have used poison on my own babies?" The Supreme One regarded Shego callously. "Doy! It's a neurotoxin tailored to kill anyone not having the benefit of either plasma-based recuperative powers or the medical functions of my battle suit."

"Oh." Shego breathed a little easier; at least their babies were still alive somewhere and reasonably unharmed. Now she just had to stall for time. "So, what about…?"

"What?"

"Even if I accept that you are who you think you are…"

"Mighty gracious for someone bound in unbreakable chains and lying on the wet floor of an abandoned lair."

"… how did you get here? Where are you from?"

"Ah, yes, 'The Stall'. Most interesting." The redhead furrowed her brows, some of the scars on her face adding to the creases. "Ok, let us change the tempo of this discussion." She began to pace, her lean and tightly muscled form moving beneath the blue and white uniform in a way that made Shego sick with anxiety for her spouse. "I was born in Middleton, the only daughter of a rocket scientist and a brain surgeon."

"Gee, that sounds familiar." Shego reverted to sarcasm in order to quell her feelings of dread. "Why are you older than the Kim Possible I know?"

"I might as well ask you why you are younger than the Shego I know." She waved her metal hand. "Or why this world is how I remember things to be from fifteen years ago."

"You're from the future?"

"Evidently."

"You have a time machine?"

"Unfortunately not. If I did, I would have used it by now to leave this wretched place."

"Then how did you get here?"

"Of that I am not certain." The smaller woman shook her head and the long red hair with its streaks of white swayed as it flowed down her back. "There was… a cataclysm."

"A what?"

"I can't think of any other way to describe it." They might have been discussing the weather over hot cups of tea. "Without warning and for no apparent reason, the world around me began to disintegrate before my very eyes."

"That doesn't happen very often."

"Indeed not."

"And you escaped?"

"Always have your escape plan ready in advance. Shego taught me that years ago."

"But… how did you escape a world?"

Then it hit her.

"You had a pan-dimensional vortex inducer?"

"Just one of my many toys. I'd never used it to travel between dimensions before but when you see the very ground beneath your feet start to fade away, desperate times require desperate measures."

"And you knew how to operate it correctly? Make all of the necessary calibrations for… traveling fifteen years into the past?" Shego head buzzed with the concept.

"No. Don't let this fool you." The petite redhead raised the metal hand. "My real right hand is that amazing creature out in the lair, who even now is repeating her actions and preparing to send all of us away. That's why we came here," she spread her hands and indicated the lair around them. "To the one place that we knew would have another inducer."

"But why kidnap Kasy and Sheki?"

The metallic hand suddenly flashed green, illuminating the room.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" The horribly familiar voice thundered in the enclosed space. "Unless you want to die ahead of schedule you will NOT use those names again!"

Shego couldn't shrink away or cringe but she did avert her eyes; knew madness when she saw it and true insanity needed to see fear and terror once in awhile. Even if she couldn't display it well, the fear for her daughters was there. She hated to admit it but, oddly enough, there were facets of this older woman's personality that did parallel that of her Kimmie to an eerie degree. Her Princess could swing from manic to depressed in the blink of an eye and this woman had proved that she could, too. No one was quite as obsessive as her spouse could be, either.

"My bad."

"It was… a rescue." The Supreme One didn't seem to have heard her. "My girls were taken from me and I simply took them back."

"Taken? You're saying that they were kidnapped?"

"D'oy."

"Who would try a stupid thing like that?" Shego could only imaging how she and her Princess would react to that and standing before her was the living breathing result.

"My enemies."

"But who?"

"I don't know." The redhead adjusted her blue cape and shrugged carelessly. "Enemies. Someone. I don't know."

"How did it happen?"

"A sitch gone wrong. A mission, our first as…" The woman stopped and blinked a few times. "The first mission of Team Possible as a whole family. I thought that they were too young, not ready yet. They argued and pleaded." There was a very Kim-like smile. "We took them along. They were doing so very well when…" Seconds of silence stretched into a minute before Shego felt confident enough to speak. She spoke as a mother, which she was, but found that it was far easier to empathize with her captor than she'd have thought.

"They were doing well. Then what happened?"

Any façade of a grieving mother vanished and The Supreme One turned to stare down at her captive.

"There was an explosion, apparently a bomb. Something that a coward would have done."

"They were killed?"

"Of course not, fool! My girls are too skilled for such a cowardly ploy!"

"Then what happened to them?"

"For a clone or a simulacrum or whatever the Hell you are, you aren't listening!" Slender arms crossed again. "They. Were. Taken!"

"Where?" This circular logic made Shego's head hurt.

"If I'd have known that, I could've saved Shego and I a lot of grief and worry. Do you know how many people we had to arrest and interrogate? Hundreds! Not a one would confess."

"Global Justice let you do that?"

"They didn't know. Shego and I acted as 'GJ' agents just like before, going out on missions and bringing in criminals, but what we were really doing was to undermine the infrastructure of whatever hidden enclave had taken our girls!"

"And they never found out what you were doing?"

"Eventually, yes. But by then I had destroyed their organization as well."

Madness, Shego thought to herself. You just can't make up stuff like this. There was one painfully obvious flaw in this entire scenario, regardless of how fantastic it already was. Shego made her decision and chose to risk her life with a question.

"How long ago did this happen?"

"Shego and I have been on our holy quest to rescue our children for fifteen years."

"When the girls were about thirteen?"

"It can do math. Woo Hoo. Extra hoo."

"And are Ka…" A hard glare from across the room made her stop and rethink her choice of words. "Are the two girls you've 'rescued' about thirty years old?"

"So not."

"And the reason for the age discrepancy is…?"

"What does it matter?" The emerald eyes were slightly glazed and the small woman began pacing around the room. "I have my girls back and in a few hours Shego and I will take them away. Away to someplace else, someplace new where we can start again." She moved slowly but purposefully, as if following a dream… or evading a nightmare. Now Shego knew from whence the madness came.

There were two dead girls from some distant corner of the multiverse that would never be properly mourned. The sitch made a lot more sense now. Shego steadied her breathing and felt for that subtle 'humming' in her bones; it was how she sensed and gauged the strength of her plasma energies. From what she could feel, it was apparent that her reserves were still terribly low, not that her plasma would be of any use against the chains, if this middle-aged Kim was to be believed.

She needed more time.

"Global Justice."

"What about them?" The smaller woman sighed impatiently.

"You said that you destroyed them. How?"

"From within, of course." The Supreme One continued her circuit around the room, lecturing. "I was their darling, their cutesy little Princess and their poster girl. I could go anywhere and do anything within their walls."

"You exposed their secrets?"

"I unearthed their weaknesses. I spread dissention and undermined their authority from the bottom up. New agents flocked to me and I trained them in secret, creating a hidden cadre of operatives to not just fight crime but assimilate the best resources of our enemies for myself."

"Hm."

"What?"

"I'd have thought that you'd have used your experience to rise to the top and eventually replacement Dr. Director."

"That would imply a desire to rise through political achievement. After the… after my daughters were taken from me, I desired to break 'GJ' without the hindrance of using their own system against them." When she next faced Shego, she was the picture of confidence. "When the feet of clay crumbled, I was the only one left within 'GJ' that had any credibility whatsoever. I became the new center of their establishment."

"What about these 'enemies' you talked about? What happened to the villains you fought?"

"Oh, they all underestimated me. Not for long, mind you. What could a mere slip of a girl do to them, they asked themselves." The Supreme One strutted a little in the confined space. "They all fell, however… Dementor, Monty, Killigan… even that hyperactive whore Adrena Lynn learned what a mistake it was to evade my righteous mission." Her emerald eyes narrowed to slits and she grinned. "I let Shego have her as a plaything. I understand that she was begging for death weeks before she actually died. How's that for freaky?"

"What about Drakken?" Shego latched onto the glaring omission of this madwoman's 'rogues gallery'. The former villain would have denied it, but she did harbor more than a passing interest in the Doc's fate.

"Ah, Drakken! That pathetic fool Lipsky actually tried to strike a deal with me! An 'assurance of our mutual victory over the world', he called it!" The Supreme One casually fingered the hem of her blue cape. "But I realized the truth soon enough. He was hoping to avoid suspicion in my quest to rescue our children." The material of her cape shone in the lighting of the cavern and there was naked scorn on her face. "He found out what happens to those who would thwart me."

"What happened to him?" Shego strained her back and pulled her body up into a sitting position. This warped reflection of her Princess smiled sweetly down at her.

"Why? What do you care?"

"We had an understanding, that's all. We worked together for years."

"I see." The petite woman nodded thoughtfully. "So your curiosity is in the interest of respect, is that it?" She pursed her lips and raised her brows to punctuate her question. Shego wondered why she felt so cold all of a sudden.

"Yes, respect. That's all."

"I totally understand."

The Supreme One raised her hands and undid the clasp of the blue cape from around her shoulders. She let the thing fall, guiding it as it dropped so that it landed on Shego's legs. She turned her back on the captive woman with a smile and walked towards the doorway to the main cavern.

"Feel free to pay your last respects."

Baffled, Shego peered down at the blue material that draped across her bound form. She searched its folds and contours for some hidden meaning, some reason for her captors comment. As she did this, she looked closely down at the cape, idly wondering if it was made of fabric or vinyl or…

No.

Oh, no. No, no, nononono…

It wasn't vinyl.

The Supreme One leaned against the wall outside of the storage room and laughed at the sound of Shego's scream. It had been so long since she'd heard such revulsion.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note: Several references made here to 'A Cookie For Ecclesiastes'. You really need to read it if you haven't already.


End file.
